I don’t know about all of you, but I always loved seeing the battle/war reports from peoples’ games. I foolishly didn’t take any pictures from our game we started this weekend, but I like these anyways :-)
My dad, brother and I started a game on Sunday for Father’s Day, and got through the first 2 rounds Who knows when we’ll play again, between all of us working, but I’ll post here when we do!
We’ve all played for a long time. My dad, for all he tries, just doesn’t seem to see the whole table all the time. I have a hard time (thought he wants me to since he doesn’t see them) not pointing out things he should do during his turn. My brother is a good sport about it, but also wants moderation. My brother has not played in a while. As you’ll see below, he made a couple of errors that he kicked himself over immediately following his turns, but nothing as of yet that has drastically altered the game this early on! Point to all this being, there will be mistakes here you may not always see in your games.
Here’s the layout:
Brian (my brother) - Axis Powers
Pat (my dad) - UK, ANZAC, France
Chris (me) - USSR, USA, China
TURN 1
Germany - The Fuhrer is ready to unleash his hordes. Germany invades France, easily felling Paris with the loss of only two infantry. Normandy also falls to the wayside. Southern France is left for Il Duce. UK naval forces in Scapa Flow (SZ 111) are wiped out, with a limping Bismarck left remaining. Goering, to Hitler’s extreme frustrations and in typical Goering fashion, forgot to take out the Allied navies SZ110, causing great consternation. The UK ships in SZ109 also sank to the bottom. Yugoslavia fell to the Wehrmacht as well. In their free movement, Finland joined the Axis cause in hopes of revenge against the hated Red Army. Soldiers begin moving eastwards…
USSR - Stalin wonders what to think of German forces moving towards his borders. Surely his ally would not betray him? The Red Army pulls back from the borders, leaving an infantry in each territory, and moves reinforcements up closer to feel out the next moves.
Japan - The Sino-Japanese War rages on! Imperial ground troops take control of more Chinese land, moving into Chahar, Anhwe, and Hunan. Most of the Japanese navy consolidates in SZ6, a curious move from the cunning Admiral Yamamoto. A minor industrial complex is built in Korea to help bolster the mainland forces.
USA - The USA continues it’s isolationist ways. Worry of Japanese attack from the large naval buildup in SZ6 causes a naval buildup out of San Francisco. Destroyers are sent to sea to block potential Japanese movement to the north.
China - Chiang does what he can to hold onto the Burma road as long as possible, consolidating most troops to the south, leaving token resistance in the north. Anything for more Western supplies!
UK - The PM cries for the country to fight back across the world! The remaining UK fleet from SZ110, and Canadian based naval forces, as well as the cruiser from SZ91, takes out the remaining U-Boats off of SZ109, consolidating the entirety of the UK Atlantic fleet. The Bismarck is destroyed. Curiously, the Mediterranean fleet decided on the easy victory of the small Italian fleet at SZ96, leaving the Italian navy largely intact. The best outcomes were the UK receiving secret intelligence from their Yankee cousins that both a German and an Italian transport were left undefended, the RAF in Malta and London gladly took the easy kills, while Fascist leaders steamed at the mistake. Far East Command sends troops to Sumatra.
Italy - Mussolini wishes to impress his mightier ally to the north, and longs to bring Italy back to it’s former glory! Italian forces overrun Southern France, ridding the Allies of their last mainland bastion. The UK Mediterranean Fleet is predictably sent to the bottom. The French fleet is also destroyed in SZ93 Tunisia is overrun, and Kenya is taken as the Abyssinian arm moves out. Italian forces then move to activate Bulgaria to join their cause.
ANZAC - With little at their disposal, the Aussies and Kiwis mount an expedition to Celebes to help bolster the outer defenses.
France - de Gaulle calls for all Frenchmen to resist! Colonial troops maneuver where they can, the French Fleet in the Channel merges with the UK fleet in the Irish Sea. de Gaulle demands to be treated as an equal partner in London…
TURN 2
Germany - The Wehrmacht rests and reorganizes. The Allied navies pay for leaving their whole navy in one place: the entire Luftwaffe annihilates every last ship, as well as Allied fighter planes that scrambled to support, with only a couple planes lost in the process. Goering has made good on his earlier lapse of not destroying the UK navy earlier! A minor industrial complex is built in Norway…Hitler grins menacingly to the east…
USSR - News of the Allied defeats at sea begin to worry Stalin even more. How will he be supported? Reds continue to maneuver, staying close to the front, but out of harms way. If war comes, Stalin hopes to catch the German hordes in a mistake…
Japan - The Imperial Army continues to brush aside measly Chinese resistance. Suiyuyan, Hopei, and Yunnan all fall. With the fall of France, the Japanese move into French Indo China, ignoring Vichy cries of protest. A large portion of Yamamoto’s fleet moves to the Marianas Islands in SZ22, another consternating move that the Japanese loathed in hindsight, as they were taken out of range of the Hawaiian islands.
USA - With Japanese Navy leaving question marks, the American government continues to pour naval resources to the Pacific. Small forces begin to gather on the east coast as well for training.
China - Chiang Kai-Shek knows that if there was ever a time to fight the time was now! The Burma Road must be kept open at all costs! A Chinese force counterattacks the Japanese forces in Yunnan, with support from the Flying Tigers, and reclaims the territory for their own. Supplies can continue to flow…for now.
UK - Greatly troubled by the loss of the entire Atlantic fleet, 10 Downing Street struggles with what to do. Though German naval assets are weak, the Luftwaffe has hardly been hurt. With the loss of fighter support at home, the enemy air superiority could very well be all that’s needed to overrun the island…if Goering is willing to accept that kind of loss to his forces. Infantry are built to bolster the defenses. South African troops are moving north in the hopes of taking out the Italians in east Africa. The garrison in Sumatra jumps to Java. If the Japanese are consolidated so far north, the British Raj will take advantage and risk spreading itself thin. Ground troops begin to move closer to the Chinese border.
Italy - Mussolini, feeling invigorated by his Bulgarian allies, foolishly attempts an attack on Greece with an inadequate force. The Greeks hold on with a single division remaining, and join the Allied cause. Hitler fumes at his ally’s incompetence, and now realizes fully he’ll need to assist him in the Mediterranean. Alexandria falls to Italian forces, as well as Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and Algeria.
ANZAC - Still unsure of what to do at this point, the ANZAC continue defensive preparations, but are also ready to jump on the offensive. All depends on what the Japanese Navy has in store…
France - French forces continue to maneuver where they seem best to help. A destroyer supports at SZ81 at the Suez Canal, French Equatorial Africa is reinforced in hopes of slowing the Italians down. Algerian troops had fallen back to Morocco the round before, in hopes of holding the ground for an eventual Allied landing.
We only got through the first two rounds. As I stated above, my brother didn’t kill the UK navy right away, but got seriously lucky in the second round that my dad A) consolidated his whole force in one spot, and B) that the die were in his favor and he only lost I think two planes and a sub for the loss of a UK battleship, 2 UK and a French Cruiser, two destroyers, a transport, and 2 RAF fighters and a French fighter! This was slightly balanced by his attack on Greece with just 6 infantry and a tank that ended in ruin there. His Japanese navy movements are puzzling to me. He really was mad that he moved to the Marianas islands with no NB. But his moves do have me on edge as the US player and is drawing most of my resources to the Pacific because of it, at a time where they could be used in Europe based on the UK navy’s current state.
I’ll post more once we get to play again!