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AUSGAME 2022

J/A 1943 The Allies get the Jump and win the initiative – ominous signs for the Axis.

Long Report – three sessions.

This session, we had the pleasure of hosting Del Elson, an old gaming buddy, from Vietnam holidaying back in Perth who came along for the night – he jumped in to play the Italian at the invitation of the Japanese/Italian player. Having won the initiative, the Allies went first getting the ‘double tap’. The weather roll is a 5, fine everywhere but storm in the N Monsoon – no air in that zone, so the pilots go to their messes for more beers – some things never change.

Allied 1st impulse– Allied priority W Europe the US take a Naval/Land spending 11 O-Points, CW a Combined, Russia and China Land actions. The CW port strike two Italian Subs in La Rochel before they get a chance to sail, a lucky 1 by the CW gives a handy split sinks 1 sub and aborts the second. The CW Home fleet sails into the N Sea to provide SB and embark US and CW land units from Denmark, Norway and UK. US naval units sail into the N Sea and Bay of Biscay to do the same. The land phase sees successful GS on some of the defenders and a US led Blitz attack against the defenders East of the Brest peninsular. TOTT rolls allow Allied exploitation of ARM/MECH further inland. Nantes is assaulted and cleared of defenders, acft are rebased. France takes a NCC and transports a newly built 7 Factor Ftr Europe. China's GS are ineffective no attacks.

Russia also took the opportunity to launch multiple attacks. A spread of 5 ground strikes including 3 Arty strikes had poor results with only a single ARM Corps and a MOT Div inverted. The hex NW of Krivoy Rog was blitzed as 2 of the 3 Russian stacks were already across the river, led by Zhukov. German defensive air support was cleared through and an average roll of 10 resulted in a 19 rolled - 1 loss to the Russian and half invert for a B. The defenders are sent to Berlin for reorg, another hole in the German front line and a GBA despite losing a valuable 7.7 MECH Corps. In the Crimea the Rumanian MTN Corps and the 2 factor Eng were also blitzed, again defensive air support was cleared through, bringing the defence to 10 and another poor Russian roll (5) resulted in a half invert for a retreat. A Russian ARM Div was GBA'd and the retreating units forced into the Crimean peninsula SW of Nikolayev, OOS they are able to be overrun. Disappointingly for Stalin, it’s only the first impulse of a likely long turn and half his HQ's are already flipped.

Axis 1st Impulse, The German takes a Land and commences a strategic withdrawal of AGS to straighten the front line in Ukraine leaving a single inverted 2 factor MOT Div in Krivoy Rog and an 8 factor ARM SE of the city. Little activity in the North with AGN holding the line. In the West, the reinforcements from Germany drive West to the River Seine and Eastern France, establishing blocking positions in an attempt to delay the advancing Allies. An ATR flies and re-inverts the 2 factor ENG thus stopping the free Russian overrun. Italy takes a NCC with a focus on the Western Front – units are railed, and the isolated Italian HQ withdraws East, more importantly Italian Ftrs arrive on the front to spt LANDOPS. Japan adopts a defensive posture and takes a Naval securing its important Sea lanes, The Sea of Japan, S China and China Sea and waits for the US to act.

Allied 2nd Impulse weather – 2, fine everywhere, and rain N Monsoon. The US priority switches to the Pacific as they take another duel Naval/Land action, another 11 O-Points spent, CW, Russia and China all go Land. In the Pacific the US sails into the Marianas with Marines and an invasion force that invade the Bonin Northern Island. A massed battle in the air for air support from both sides sees Japan and the US both lose acft and an average roll takes the unoccupied Island for a full US invert. The US rebases a long range Ftr to the newly taken airfield.

In Europe the CW expand their bridgehead and assist in the destruction of German defenders. In France, a 3-factor partisan attempted to destroy a 3 factor SS Corps which was defending an inverted plane SE of Metz. The Italians flew the long Rng Piaggio bomber and reduced the attack to +0.7 – the Partisan roll was an abysmal, 5 Rolled, a higher roll could have seen an airfield disaster for the German but lady luck looked after the German SS and Acft.

Russia’s land strategy is to mop up the German defenders that they had left behind. Russian GSs again fail with the Luftwaffe shooting down 2 x bombers and as usual, with their pilots – this acft/pilot loss has been a common and expensive trend for the Russian player – maybe they should issue parachutes? Russia declares three attacks but again the Russian Airforce is found wanting as critical German defensive air support was cleared through to support the single Germ ARM – from an 8 to a 12 in defence, and the isolated and inverted Rumanian Mtn Corps and German Eng were also doubled from 3 to 6 factors. Stalin rolled badly again - again a trend for 1943 with rolls of 8 and another 5! The +11.8 blitz on the ARM ended up being 16, Russia lost a MECH Corps - no GBA. The +9.8 blitz on the MTN/ENG became a 19 - 1 loss/half invert and with no retreat path both the Rumanian MTN and ENG were eliminated, just the Black Sea at their backs. The assault on Krivoy Rog was automatic as the German Div was eliminated against overwhelming odds – Russian gained a GBA. With two more half inverts rolled, all of the Russian HQs in Ukraine are now inverted. Slow progress which has been mainly due to well below average die rolls. Whilst none of the attack rolls were disastrous, the best roll over 2 turns by the Russian has been a 12.

Axis 2nd Impulse, Germany took a Land and continued the orderly withdrawal and consolidation of AGS. Again, no change with AGN content to defend unmolested. On the Western Front the River Seine is defended in strength and acft are rebased to that front to protect the defenders from Allied air. Japan and Italy both take combined actions. Italy spends oil and sails the Secondo Fleet into the W Med to challenge the CW air – supported by air they sink and find the CW convoy in the W Med. In the Baltic, a long-range Italian NAV hunts for the Allied navy but again fail to find. Japan reinforces it sea areas, especially the China Sea and two land units are disembarked onto Iwo Jima – the US Marine will have a contested landing if they want this rock. Acft from Malaya and Burma are rebased to Hong Kong.

Allied 3rd Impulse – CW take a Naval in order to establish its Convoy protection and transport CW and US land units into France to continue the build-up of the Second Front.The US conducts a blitz attack on the SE outskirts of Paris and roll a very ordinary 5 losing a 2.7 Mech div for a full invert – defenders are blitzed to the spiral – they will be back, but this poor roll shuts the US land options down. In the Pacific US Combined sees the US Pacific Fleet elect to take offensive action and sail into the China Sea off the coast of Japan – and search for the Japanese Strike Fleet – rolling a 10! No find for either side. J/A 43, Russia spends 4 O-Points to re-invert an ARM HQ due to the German point hex West of Krivoy Rog having an ARM and AT gun and a total defence of 22. Russia had only 2 ARM and needed the ARM HQ to declare a blitz. Ground strikes on the point hex typically fail but succeeded against the Guderian HQ shutting down the HQ Support. A Blitz attack was declared on the hex west of Nikolayev as 2 units attacking across the straights can join with the beleaguered units in Odessa to Blitz a couple of weaker units with a defence of only 6. Three points of air supported each defence due to a lack of Russian fighters. Surprisingly, two above average rolls (17 & 14) by Russia results in a TOTT West of Krivoy Rog and a 19 West of Nikolayev, clearing both hexes but costing a Corps in the South. GBA gained in the North. The Arm HQ was involved in the Northern attack but did not use the HQ support allowing the Russian to re-invert two ARM GBA’s. Russians eliminate the Finish Partisan supported by air and naval shore bombardment for no loss.

Axis 3rd Impulse, Italy and Germany takes a land and collapse Vichy as they are concerned that Paris will be liberated by the advancing W Allies and need to secure the 22 accumulated Vichy BPs. Vichy is collapsed with several Vichy ships captured by the German forces, but the majority escape to the FF African colonies, including the Tpt and CAs – the FF finally have a navy. German and Italian units are railed into the ex-Vichy French cities and the defensive positions in the Southern mountains and forests are occupied. With few reinforcements left, the Western front remains vulnerable as more US units arrive in the UK and France. In Russia the withdrawal by one hex is continued in good order and consolidation of their front-line. Rommel arrives in AGS to re-invert some of the front-line units and a bomber. More Luftwaffe Acft were rebased from the North to support AGS as there are few upright Russian acft left active. Without acft available to ground strike the German ARM/ATG stacks or contest their bombers the Russian will struggle to gain reasonable odds. No change AGN.

Japan’s Combined sees her reinforce the South China and China Sea, and the Japanese Strike Fleet off the coast of Japan –most of Japan’s fleet has sailed. Japan’s long rang NAV patrolling the Japanese Coast find the BS New Mexico with a 1 and the US BS is totally surprised handing over 10 points (5 shifts) – the Mavis NAV takes its 5 Nav factors up 5 for a Double X – massive explosions as the New Mexico evaporates in a wall of flame – no survivors.

Allied 4th Impulse – The CW and Russia take land actions and the US a Combined. The US advances units to the Eastern flank of Paris and from the French Ports on the East Coast. Acft attempt to GS Axis defenders with some success, but the recently arrived Black Widow is shot down on its first flight. The CW assault Rouen with 15-inch SB and roll well to take the city with no loss, a MTN unit is rebased to reinforce the City – the Seine River line is now unhinged. The British Lancaster Strat bombs the oil fields – no fighter intercepts so with a +1 with 8 factors and rolls a 1. A US B17 from Greece attempts to bomb Ploiesti but again rolls a miss. Russia continues to grind away at the German on the new point hex as their 6 x ARM/MECH Corps still allowed a decent blitz. As expected, Germ flew 3 x bombers however Russian AA gun turned one away. 10 points of support are cleared through with an overall +7.8 blitz. An average roll of 10, for an 18 – half invert for the attacker for a retreat for the defender. Bonus GBA as a MOT Div is upgraded, but another half invert sees only 4 Corps remain upright. No EOT Roll – 1 needed, Allies breathed a sigh of relief.

Axis 4th Impulse, Germany takes a Land and Japan a Naval, Italy a NCC. Desperate to roll EOT Germany advances a 1.1 GAR from Lille to secure the supply lines to the beleaguered Paris Garrison and the two inverted MECH on the banks of the Seine River. Western Front units are moved to maximise their defensive position. On the Russian Front some minor adjustments as both sides appeared to have culminated with no active HQs or Acft, and many units inverted. Japan took a Naval and went after the Pacific Fleet in the China Sea, they sailed the last of their navy incl the Res Kito Butai Fleet and promptly rolled a 10 on the search, the US found with 3 and get three shifts in their favour - the US Admirals were quietly confident – to minimise damage they took the Japanese air2air down 3 shifts as the two powers diced off the first major naval sea battle of the game – Japan at -2 and the US at -1 on the A2A table. Then it all got ugly the US rolled multiple average dice with 10 rolls 12/12/14/10/13/9/15/17/15/9 clearing bombers and bouncing US Acft and the lucky, lucky Japanese rolled 5/12/11/5/13/18/16/15/17. A win for the Japanese in their first Major fleet action with the US, although the US were also lucky with their damage control saving both an X and a D on the Essex CV – they build them strong. Having lost the first major air battle the Pacific Fleet, tail between its legs, the Pacific fleet is aborted back to Rabaul to fight again another day. The Axis fail to roll EOT – 2 needed, advances by 1.

Allied 5th Impulse weather roll is a 9 – fine everywhere, but storm still in the N Monsoon. CW take a Land and the US and Russia Combined. US subs hunt convoys with some success in the S China Sea cutting off much of the Far East oil to Japan. US Acft are rebased into the Pacific. In the West, the CW land units assault the 1.1 GAR unit cutting supply to Paris and advance in Southern France capturing Marseilles and Bordeaux. The US launches a Blitz against the two German, inverted and OOS Mech units over the River Seine and destroy both as there is no retreat path, but lose their ENG – Paris is now surrounded. Allied Strat bombers target German factories shutting down two. Russia, exhausted, takes a Combined and sails its CA’s into the Baltic to deter German shipping and trigger another search for the Italian Nav – no find. A number of units advance in Ukraine and in the Far East, a single Blitz attack by the Russian rolls well eliminating the two German units leaving a hole in the German line. Russia ends the turn on a 2, the Axis delighted, the Allies not so, initiative marker moves to +1 Axis – no reroll for the Allies and the Axis will win ties. No Partisans.

The Allies are now targeting the German oil with Strat Bombers as that is a critical vulnerability – but luck has been with the Germans here as all bombers have been either aborted or rolled low – no oil lost this turn, the German/Italian breathed a sigh of relief. German builds are under pressure as they have lost the 3 x Swedish, 3 x Russian, 1 Spanish and 3 x French resources AND the Allies Strat bombing of undefended factories is taking its toll. The Japanese have been extremely lucky both in searches and their air2air combats – beating consistently the Allied air. This is keeping the hopes of the Axis alive in this game as progress in the Pacific has been slow and Japanese losses minimal. Next session, Allies get a bonus 5thimpulse as the Axis failed to roll EOT – Japan and Italy may well pass next impulse as Germany’s position in W Europe is becoming dire and the German massed reinforcements that have been ‘Blitzed’ to the spiral plus the 22 Vichy BPs are desperately needed to stem the tide of Western Allies – and there is of course the promise of S/O bad weather and short turns – but you cannot bank promises.

S/O 1943 – The majority of German reinforcements, both air and land are placed in Western Germany to reinforce the Western Front. Initiative, and Russia and Germany both roll 9’s for the hotly contested initiative – Axis winning ties, take the initiative, huge sigh of relief by the German player as he can now establish a front line in W Europe and fill the holes in Ukraine/AGS front.

Axis 1st Impulse, Weather a 7 Rain everywhere, fine in the Med, turn advances by 2, nice roll for the Axis – short bad weather turns are needed if they want to hamper the Allies advance and minimise losses in territory and units. Germany and Italy go Land, Japan a Naval. Japan commits very early to guarding the China and S China Sea to deter any US intervention and escort their convoys and essential resources to Japan. The Strike fleet sails into the S China Sea and the Advance Fleet into the China Sea, both into the 3 box and both under the cover of 7/8 factor land-based air. Their subs screen the Pacific tasked with intercepting the US reinforcing naval units and Tpts. The Aikoku Maru (CX) finds a British Convoy in the Azania Sea but alert lookouts spot the raider and both sides roll 1’s for a Conv abort. German reinforces the Western Front entering Belgium and Eastern France and rails a single 6.6 MECH to Ukraine, their front line in AGS steps back a hex and reinforces the point hex, no change AGN.

Allied 1st Impulse, US takes a Naval and Russia takes an air, and the CW a Land, China a NCL. The US Naval sees the US reinforcing the Pacific with shipping and air, and their transports and Amphs delivering more US reinforcements to Europe and France. US CA’s assisted by CW Air enter the W Med to hunt for the Italian CA but no finds as both roll 8’s. Russia’s air sees the bulk of their air force redeployed to the frontline, the first Russian Ftr arrives by train to Siberia. A Strat bombing run against the Ploiesti oil field is ably defended by the Rumanian air force – aborting the escorting Russian Ftr, but these bombing runs are now being escorted by the first long range (10) Russian Ftr. The CW land sees units exploit S France and enter Marseille and push single units forward to capture resources and pressure the German. France takes a Naval and starts to move its recently ex-Vichy fleet from its African ports to assist the British with escorting Convoys and challenging the Italian Navy.

Axis 2nd Impulse, Weather roll a 2, fine everywhere NOT what the Axis wanted, another bad weather turn would have been ideal. Germany and Italy go Land Japan a Combined. Japan again reinforces the sea areas with air further deterring the US as Japan now has several 7 and 8 factor Acft in each sea zone. They embark and land a GAR Div into Manila to bolster up the defenders as rumoured invasion by the US persist. Germany uses the clear weather to commence a significant withdrawal in Ukraine back to the Rumanian border and hinging on the last Ukraine city, its capitol Kiev. This is a clever move as it almost makes the Russian’s last air move to bring up its Acft to the front line redundant. It does however concede a swag of territory back to the Russians, who may well now ‘liberate’ Ukraine a lot earlier than anticipated. An attempt by a Stuka to invert a GBA ARM stack cost the Luftwaffe the Stuka. On the Western Front excitement as the reinforcing German ARM/MECH Army (5 Corps) launch a massed CATK against a single 8.4 British INF on the Belgium border at +14. Emboldened, the Italians are galvanised into action by a lucky GS against an isolated and OOS black print British MECH on the W Med coast and attack at +9.6. Both attacks are strongly defended by Allied air support converting the 8 defence to a 16 and the OOS Brit MECH becomes a 3 as a US CA provide Defensive SB and a L/Rng bomber is also cleared through – Italy, the US and CW all lose escorting Ftrs in the air battles. Alas for the Axis the dice Gods even the ledger of low dice rolls as both rolls are 5’s – the British 8.4 Inf is blitzed back to London, half invert for the German attackers and in the South worse as all the Italians are inverted, and they lose a 6.3 INF Corps, and the OOS black print MECH is retreated into the sanctuary of Marseilles. Rough luck and a gift to the Allies who will be quick to exploit the now inverted Axis units in this bonus, fine weather impulse.

Allied 2nd impulse and possibly last for A/S 43 as the EOT roll is a 1 on the Axis impulse, and a 2 if both Japan and Italy pass – will the dice gods be cruel or kind to the hard-pressed Axis – next week – post Christmas, we will see.

· ACFT – Aircraft

· LOC – Line of Communications

· NCC - No Cost Combined – no oil used

· TOTT – Top of the table a 23 or more

· AGN/AGS German Army Group North and South

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL MAY THE DICE BE KIND IN 2023

The Second Front truly opened as the Axis struggle to contain the advance - 

S/O fine weather has not helped,

CW advances are reflected in the smiles of their warriors

The Western Front J/A Front Line

British Inf start reading up about Paris and the delights the city has to offer

Paris surrounded - Lille 3 inverted units, fine weather 

and the Allies look to exploit success

US forces exploit success in France

The 1943 S/O German Russian Front

The Russian Front AGS 43 J/A Line

AGS - the German withdrawal to the Rumanian border

AGN - Situation no change as the focus is on AGS

The Far East

Sino Russian front - Garrison limits being tested

China - very little activity as Mao bides his time

The Pacific still in the Balance - but the noose is tightening

Akau Maru - Japanese CX still harassing CW convoys in the Far East

The Pacific - Truk remains isolated and less relevant as the US push past the Island

43 j/a Losses

43 S/O Losses after two impulses - mostly air

Air losses continue to mount on both sides

Roman Christmas

Eh, I mean Saturnalia.

Velites - all I did with these guys was give em a wash and a rebase

Auxiliares - all my own work

My attempt at a boar

Legionaries (Hastati) - another just a wash and rebase job

When I showed these to my daughter she remarked that I had painted them in Xmas colours!

The velites and legionaries are repurposed from a DBA army, Essex figures.  The auxiliares were a rescue job (spare figures no longer required, manufacturer unknown).

Barbarossa - Completion of the second turn

In a six hour session, Richard and I completed the first and second turns of this monster game.  I have made two posts to better manage the size of the images (hi-res).  The following images are the German declared attacks in the second turn.

Army Group North 

Race to Riga

Army Group Centre

Minsk is still a long way away

Army Group South

By passing Lvov

Here is some commentary from Richard:

We are nearly through the initial invasion turns with all the attendant restrictions (well apart from the Rumanian Front of course).

As far as deciding on where best to send Soviet reinforcements where there is an option, I think we will need to play that by ear. That 21st Army for instance, it probably needs to stay somewhat on the boundary between the two play areas so it can cover both flanks. It was historically sent North as a result of the actual situation on the ground in the South. I think it would be prudent not have it wholly committed on the central front at this early stage. It should possibly track westerly from its current position to enable it to swing either way to deal with emerging threats.

There will be a couple of big battles on the AGS sector with some powerful Soviet Stacks -there certainly won't be easy victories at relatively low odds. Up North, Riga should be assailable within 2 turns hopefully and the Dvina can be breached in at least one location. AGC is still in the reconcentration phase, certainly on the Northern Minsk pincer. The infantry is just so slow and the mopping up efforts take time too.

There was one other AGN VP location taken, Siauliai, in Lithuania, which would have precipitated the Mandatory Attack VPs being earned. The totals by AG area are AGN 6 VPs, AGC 8 VPs, AGS 7 VPs.

And here is a link to another video hosted on YouTube: https://youtube.com/shorts/FNVglRupeZQ?feature=share  Not that happy with this video, but it does attempt to show the whole situation at the end of Turn Two.  Clearly making videos is a skill I will have to develop.

But wait, there is more.  Inspired, Richard has provided this log of play:

Turn 1

AGN

The two main axes of advance in this sector were North East along the main road to Riga and  passing through and directly east (to one of the main objectives for this sector) advancing into a position North of Kaunas. This advance needed to be as rapid as possible in order to support the attack from the North as well as cut off any possibility of reinforcements arriving to bolster the defence.

Despite the heavily forested positions, the Soviet frontier defences were pushed aside and the Panzer Corps of 8th Panzer Division and 3rd and 30th Motorised Divisions raced for their positions North of Kaunas along the twisting roads of Lithuania. The Infantry advanced into the positions providing a cover screen to this long exposed flank.

The other Panzer Corps comprising 1st and 6th Panzer Divisions struck out towards Siauliui, sweeping aside the defenders.

Further west, minor screening forces advanced Northward towards the main road leading to Liepaja in Latvia on the coast.

AGC

A series of co-ordinated attacks by a Panzer Corps comprising two full Panzer and one Motorised Divisions along with motorised Flak and Engineer units in the lightly defended area South of Kaunas opened a very wide breach in the Soviet defensive screen. Bypassing the fortified defenders in front of Kaunas, the 20th Motorised commenced its dash to Vilnius which was reached in the second segment of the extended invasion turn. The defending Flak unit was quickly overwhelmed and Vilnius was seized.

The 20th Motorised set up a defensive position in the city and awaited the rest of the army still engaged around Kaunas.

Further back at Kaunas, Infantry and artillery units closed to engaged the fortified Soviet Units in front of Kaunas, after opening  the breach in the Soviet lines, 7th and 20th Panzer Divisions swung North and moved around the southern flank of the city to be in a position to attack the city in the next combat phase.

Kaunas is an extremely important city, being the junction of two major roads, one leading to Daugavpils and the other to Minsk. A railway line also intersects these roads. Once the railroad has been converted into a space containing a major road, contiguous hexes up to 21 hexes away can be supplied.

To the North of Kaunas, another Panzer Corps of AGN has also got into position to attack Kaunas from the North having swept aside the defenders in front of them.

Maximum available Luftwaffe support was provided to the attack at Kaunas, which despite the high odds was still not guaranteed to be taken. Two Ju-87 Stuka units and a Henschel 123 unit were sent against the defender. The Soviet AA gunners took a heavy toll, destroying the Hs-123 and damaging one of the Stuka units.

The overwhelmed defenders of Kaunas where annihilated, including the HQ of the 11th Army.

The two other main objectives for AGC in the initial phases are Brest, including its Citadel and Grodno. Both cities are important for the same reasons as Kaunas is, with major road and railway lines passing through them.

The Citadel and initial defensive belt of Brest succumbed to a massive assault, which included the Super Heavy artillery of four railway guns. For perspective, regular artillery has a range of 2 hexes measured from the firing hex to the target inclusive. These railway guns have a range of 8 hexes!

South of Brest, a full Panzer Corps crossed the river Bug with the aid of bridging equipment and advanced sweeping aside the weak line of defenders. To the North of Brest, another Panzer Corps crossed the Bug also aided by bridging equipment. Both of these spearheads swept aside defenders around and raced North East on the two main roads diverging from Brest.

There are significant frontier defences to the West and Northwest of Grodno as well as heavily forested terrain and minor rivers. Consequently, these need to be overcome before an attack on Grodno can

be attempted. The initial attacks and subsequent exploitation by motorised units, put the city on the front line, however, the difficult terrain and still significant defensive positions directly to the west of the city meant that only a relatively weak assault could be attempted as there was a significant defensive force int he city. Despite Stuka units evading the Soviet AA the attack, whilst inflicting losses, resulted in a stalemate.

Elsewhere the mainly infantry dominated forces pressed on the Soviet frontier defences in the broad salient centred on Bialystok. The Northern part of this force contains extremely weak units and really

only acts as a screen. The majority of the attacking was from the South and all the frontier defences were easily breached, although without the ability to exploit like the motorised units, it is a slow process.

AGS

Army Group South meanwhile battered against the frontier defences to the North West of Lvov without significant success. Further to the North the Motorised elements succeeded in crossing the Bug and advancing directly eastward along the main road skirting the Southern Edge of the Pripet

marshes.

A significant portion of AGS forces were still arriving from the Balkan campaign, combined with major traffic jams in the area meant that for game purposes many units could not move in the first game turn.

VP Summary

Vilnius captured: +2 VP

Soviet HQ Destroyed:  +2VP

Kaunas captured: +2VP

Brest Captured: +2VP

Mandated Attacks not made (AGC Sector): +2VPs

Soviet Armour and Artillery Step Losses (1 per six): +1 VP

Turn 2

AGN

Despite the seizure of Kaunas, there remained a significant force which needed to be mopped up to the west of Kaunas. Whilst these were immediately destroyed, significantly, this required delaying the

eastward advance of several Panzer divisions. Nevertheless, infantry elements continued eastward through the breach to the South of Kaunas with the aim of screening the line of supply to Vilnius and also relieving the exposed on all sides, 20th Motorised Division occupying the city at the very tip of the advance.

The 3rd Motorised Division raced along the main road from Kaunas to a position just outside Daugavpils

Further North East, Siauliui was taken and a general advance ensued to the North into the Courland peninsula, along the road to Riga and to the North East pursuing the withdrawing defenders.

AGC

In spite of a much larger attack, fully supported by artillery and aircraft against Grodno, the fickle CRT  failed to produce the desired result and the city continued to hold despite further attrition. The remaining defenders to the West of Grodno were destroyed and the city is now completely surrounded. It will definitely fall in the next turn, however, holding up the advance at this juncture has allowed a large number of units to make their way eastwards covering the approaches to the South West of Minsk.

Further South the now unshackled Panzer Corps moving in parallel from round Brest continued to sweep aside resistance and are now in a position to continue eastward to Baranovichi and beyond as the Southern Minsk pincer.

The Bialystok salient continued to collapse and with the destruction of the defenders in front of Grodno, it is all but encircled. For illustrative purposes, the infantry involved in this area represent approximately two thirds of AGC Infantry and there will be a long slow advance ahead of them before they can catch up with the motorised elements which are currently racing ahead on either flank.

AGS

With the full complement of units now available, AGS continued battering the defences to the north west of Lvov for some incremental gains against the defenders who had regrouped in the meantime.

Further north, the concentrated Panzer Corps easily destroyed defenders at and to the south of Kovel, capturing that town. Immediately further south, the remaining fortified positions were also overwhelmed. Further to the north, an expeditionary force is making its way along the back roads of the Pripet Marches with a view to outflanking the now considerably reformed defensive lines along the Styr River line. There is a now a significant concentration of Soviet forces including powerful armoured divisions here, so attacks against them will be at relatively low odds. The road directly east towards Rovno is the main prize in this area and should result in some heavy fighting in turns ahead.

VP Summary

AGN took Special Reinforcement Pool: two Infantry Divisions and one Engineer Regiment - for a cost of -1VP.

Siauliui Captured: +2VPs

Przemysl Captured: +1VP

Kovel Captured: +1VP

Mandated Attacks Not Made (AGN Sector): +2VPs

Mandated Attacks Not Made (AGS Sector): +3VPs

Soviet Armour and Artillery Losses (AGC): +1VP

Headquarters Destroyed AGC and AGS: +2VP per sector

Finally, there is also this post:

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2994000/what-board-game-equivelant-climbing-mount-everest

Barbarossa - Completion of the first turn

The game system has a feature called Mandated Attacks which forces the Soviets to attack or lose VPs.  Such attacks have to be at least at a minimum odds and have a decent force involved.  Given Soviet combat happens before they can move the main body of their troops iteither has to be set up in advance or made just with mechanised forces.  They gave it a try against AGC.

A bad die roll produced a poor outcome.

The Soviets took a loss for no gain except to meet a Mandatory Attack.

A video was taken and proved to big to embed in this post, but it has been uploaded to YouTube and can be found here: https://youtu.be/jPrto0wfDlw

From left to right: AGN, AGC and AGS

And for reference here are how the maps go together:

We are just using Maps A to I plus L, N and W

Nikephorian Byzantine versus New Kingdom Egyptian Finally

On the third attempt the Byzantines prevailed.  Importantly, this was a competition game.

The Egyptians won the scouting and placed themselves at top a hill.

The Byzantines chose some open ground between a small lake and a wood,

deploying as two discreet wings.

The Byzantines stayed put, but the Egyptians advanced.

The Egyptians pause as the Byzantines make their move.

The Egyptian charioteers prove better shots than the Byzantine mounted archers.

The Byzantine skirmishers boldly block the main Egyptian force, 

which is still clinging to that hill. 

The Byzantine cavalry prove to be better fighters,

but they are now a spent force.

Sensing victory the Egyptian foot advance.

Now it gets exciting.

The Byzantine cavalry has finished off the chariots,

but is busy keeping out of the way.

Go the Varangians!

Single handedly the Varangians clean up the Egyptian infantry.

A bloody victory, but a convincing victory!

218 grams of Soviets

My Soviet forces continue to put on weight, although the gain of late has been a bit slow.  In part this has been due to the need to source a few additional figures to make up crews etc.  So what follows contains additions to my original 10kg purchase.

And now for something different

Komissar Karenski calling Uncle Joe

Your call is important to us and you have progressed in the queue

I demand to be put into focus!

About time.

And give me some natural light!

And finally...

Let's revisit this vignette to do it better justice.

Still perfecting use of these textured bases.

The tank rider pair look suitably dug in.

Don't Mention The War - Part 30

Well, the summer of 1943 didn't go on as long as I feared, still, the damage has been done.  This included aerial terror attacks on undefended German cities.

French partisans made a fond farewell, but in Ukraine there were none to be seen.

I'm not the Mark in question,

at least I don't think I am.

Maybe it is for all Marks?

Initiative was rested back from the Imperialists in the Autumn which started out with rain and mud.  The mud interfered with getting reinforcements up to the European fronts, the Soviets took the easy way out and did an Air Impulse and redeployed 13 fleet of aircraft.  They also attempted to bomb Polesti.

Instructors providing elementary bombing lessons.

But then the weather turned fine and two counterattack opportunities existed, one in the north of France and one in the south, the later by the Italians after a bit of help from the Germans in putting the Commonwealth forces out of supply.  Lots or air battles and then the attacks went in.  The Italians threw a six (on 2D10) producing just a retreat which actually moved the unit being attacked to safety,  The German attack, at excellent odds, also scored a six (it was a 13.8 attack).  While the enemy where spiralled back to Blighty, half the Germans and all the Italians were flipped, making them easy targets for follow up attacks.

The early model Panther tank failed to make sufficient room for the crew

Production

The loss of resources in France and Ukraine as well a Sweden is taking a toil on production, but in a strange bit of gaming logic, collapsing Vichy France provides Germany with a heap of accumulated Build Points, 22 to be precise.  This allowed a decent build, but it can not last.