1942 Second Edition Battle Log

[tchenao]

I started today a game and I will be uploading different briefings of how it went, just for the sake of it.

TURN 1

The Soviet Union built 8 infantry units. They have no other choice than assuming a defensive role against the Germans.

The Soviet troops moved the front line from Russia to West Russia with very few loses. They decided not to attack Finland and assume a defensive role both in Karelia and Caucasus, now that the German troops were not knocking at Moscow’s doors.

More troops were brought to the front lines and the Infantry in the Eastern part of the country was concentrated in Buratia to prevent a Japanese invasion.

The submarine in SZ4 was moved to SZ7 to help the British fleet from a possible German attack.

Then the Soviets placed as many units as they could in Karelia (2 units) and Caucasus (4 units) reinforcing Moscow with just 2 infantry units.

Germany basically built Infantry and Tanks, relying in the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe capacity to take out the British transports. Their strategy in the game seems to be to overpower the Soviet Union as fast as possible and get the two Victory Cities in their power while preventing the Allies from opening a second front in Europe.

For that it was capital to sink the two transports than the British have and to reinforce Morocco to avoid a possible attack from the US.

The Kriegsmarine with some support from the Luftwaffe did the job and all the British fleet was sunk in the first turn, including the transport in SZ10.

In a surprising move, the Germans decided to attack Karelia with all they could. Infantry and tanks from all the territories that could reach were sent, supported by all the fighters within range. They took over Leningrad in turn 1 overpowering the Soviets.

In a less important move, the transport in the Mediterranean was loaded with troops and escorted by the Battleship they attempted an amphibious assault on the persian territories, being successful after sinking the British destroyer. The objective of this move was to put pressure on a possible land assault to Calcutta.

They moved troops to the Eastern Front to continue their fight with the Soviets in the upcoming turns while placing all the purchased units in Germany and Italy.

The British couldn’t do a lot. They liberated the persian territory taken by the Germans using the troops in Egypt. They strategically bombed Berlin causing 3 IPC points of damage and they tried to take on New Guinea, but the Japanese troops held their ground. They bought 10 units of Infantry to avoid a  Sea Lion operation now that all their fleet has been taken out in the Atlantic. Their Pacific fleet remained in SZ39 except the transport, which took 2 Infantry units to be deployed in Egypt to fortify the British defenses there.

Japan was the power with a bigger expansion on turn 1. Using the transports near Japan they moved troops to Soviet Far East that was now undefended and also conquered Alaska, getting a crucial air base to bomb the Western United States if they can hold their positions. Burma was also conquered, so now Japanese troops are very close to Calcutta. They moved all their fleet North to support the communications with Alaska and to threaten San Francisco. Seems that the Japanese will try to strike in the heart of the US instead of going after Honolulu.

They spent all their IPC in building more war ships (2 cruises and a submarine) to try to take out the US fleet in the upcoming turns. By getting to Alaska they probably will force the US to build some land units to try to regain the territory, so it will avoid more american warships being built, at least in this turn.

With Japanese troops in American land, the US decided they needed to spend a lot of IPC in defensive units, so Infantry and fighters were built. The fleet outside San Francisco tried to take out the Japanese off Alaska, but once again in this turn the Japanese infantry held their ground pretty well. In Mainland China they made a threatening move by conquering Kwantung, threatening Shangai and relieving the pressure on the British Troops in India.

In the Atlantic the two transport made a nice move and deployed land units in Morocco, after a fierce fight with the Germans, US finally could conquer Morocco and give the German army something else to think about. However they only have one tank left, and with the threat of the U boats it is not so clear that they can bring reinforcements in the upcoming turns.

So far the turn one ended with the Allies controlling 6 victory cities, while the Axis have now 7. German troops controlling Leningrad, tanks being built in Berlin at a higher pace than the Soviets can build Infantry, Moscow quite close. No British transports to open a second front in Europe, the only positive point for the Allies came with the US troops getting to Morocco.

In the Pacific side the Japanese expansion is threatening Britain, Soviet Union and the US, so the Allies really have to think about their next moves.

[tchenao]

Well I couldn’t post turn by turn and I apologize for that, but I didn’t had as much time as I thought I’d have, so I will try to make a detailed briefing:

The Soviets were pushed back every turn by the Germans. They got Leningrad back only to lose it the following turn again. When it was clear that they were no match for the German capacity of building new troops, the Soviet decided to assume an absolute defensive role in Moscow and built as many Infantry as they could.

The Kriegsmarine did a very awesome job sinking all the allies ships in the first turns to establish themselves as the only Naval force both in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. However, to do so, they had to move their fleet to the US in order to sink an American fleet built in turn 5. By doing so, the British got time enough to build transports and move them to land in Leningrad and liberating it from the Germans. However that liberation only lasted one turn. The German fleet was back to block the British and sink them in the following turn, while tanks built in the Caucasus factory (now under German control) were enough to get it back.

Japan expanded as much as they could and took advantage of a big mistake of the Soviets. They concentrated their eastern troops in the border with Manchuria. Japan used two transports to land in the Soviet Far East and Alaska, threatening both the States and the Soviet Union. Since the Soviets were just building Infantry to be placed in Moscow and they lost the other two factories they had, Japan could basically walk in undefended territories and get a lot of IPC.

Strategic bombing raids have had a capital role in this game. Both the Germans and the British have been bombing the shit out of each other. The consequences for the British were more severe, since Germany had the money to repair the factories and two factories in the Soviet Union under their control. There were a couple of turns were the British could not place all their units.

The US started using the advantage of their high number of IPC building a fleet that progressively pushed Japan back. After turn 7 the US ships were the only ones present in the Pacific.

Germany is being by far the best player in this game. They got Leningrad in the very first turn and despite of losing it a couple of times, it was secure by turn 4. Then, while the Soviets were building Infantry, the factories in Germany, Leningrad, Caucasus and Italy were building the biggest Panzer Division I have ever seen in the game so far. In turn 8 over 20 divisions of German Tanks supported by 5 divisions of Luftwaffe attacked the 32 Infantry divisions in Moscow. The dice were so in favor of the Germans that they finally took Moscow losing only 6 units.

The situation for the Allies started to being very complicated. The US tried to conquer Tokyo but the Japanese defenses held. Using a massive number of transports build in the previous turns they liberated Alaska and landed in the Soviet Far East, making their way to the doors of Shangai, where the Japanese, assisted once more by the Lufftwafe (Germany sent 4 planes earlier in prevision of Japan struggling to defend their victory cities), kept the city after a bloody fight with the Americans.

We almost reached the end of the game when the Panzer divisions that conquered Moscow made their way to Calcutta and conquered the city despite of the fierce British resistance.

At that point the Axis had 9 victory cities already, but during the US turn the americans managed to conquer Manila with just one unit left. That is holding the Allies in the game.

The fact that Germany does not have any ships that can reach the pacific in the upcoming turns gives some air to the allies. The Victory cities that the Axis could get are all in islands and an amphibious assault will be required. However the US have superiority in the Pacific at the moment (2 battleships, 2 aircraft carriers and 2 cruisers, in addition to 3 strategical bombers), so the Germans will have to move part of their Mediterranean fleet as well as building some more naval units in Calcutta if they want to be able to challenge the Americans.

London seems very well defended so far, so most likely, Manila will be the key to victory. If the Allies can keep it, the US have troops ready to try to liberate Shangai and tanks that can even blitz and try to get to Moscow, so now it is clear that either Germany or the US have the faith of the game in their hands.

More to come!

[guni-kid]

Interesting game and interesting moves… But the Allies are done, it’s only a question of time now (Just compare Axis IPCs and Allies IPCs and you see what’s comin’). Some things could have been avoided from the beginning, though: For example why didn’t the British move their tank and inf in North America to Alaska first round (his transport was lost anyway)? That would have kept the Jap out on turn one. The British could have also sunk the Jap transport and destroyer off the coast to avoid the Jap gaining too much attack force 1st round… And with the Soviet I would have also conquered the Baltic states in the very first round: 2 more IPCs to collect and taking one of the German tanks out… And why sending the valuable (and vulnerable) US transports to Morocco for basically nothing which is having one tank surviving only instead of grouping forces to make some trouble in the Atlantic… :| Well and then the very bad dice gods on the Soviet defence, that’s a shame…  :evil:

[tchenao]

Thanks for the comments. We made several rookie mistakes and you were absolutely right, the Axis ended up winning the game. The Germans conquered Calcutta and built a fleet there. They moved into Manila two turns after and despite the Americans attacked Moscow that very same turn, they couldn’t take it and the game was over. In this game Germany basically won the game by themselves!

[Hobbes]

@tchenao:

In turn 8 over 20 divisions of German Tanks supported by 5 divisions of Luftwaffe attacked the 32 Infantry divisions in Moscow. The dice were so in favor of the Germans that they finally took Moscow losing only 6 units.

Germany got very lucky. 20 ARM + 5 FTR against 32 INF + 1 AA Gun is 74% odds for the Russians.

[tchenao]

VERY VERY lucky. Specially taking into account that they only lost 6 units.