KARL7, LORD CURTMUNGUS Axis vs GARGANTUA, CANAUK12, and TOUCAN SON-OF-SAM Allies, The final battle!

For various understandable reasons some attendees cancelled and we ended up with 6 players. So we played 2 games:

1. 1914

Played with 2 house rules: max 4 builds in India; land units move 2 if every territory is friendly. Powers were allocated at random:

CPs - Ste
Entente - Andrew (h0lym0nk) as GB, Italy & USA; Adam (Private-Panic) as F & R.

Which may have been a bit unfair as Ste had not played 1914 before!

R was able to consolidate it’s units and overpower a number of G & A-H attacks, eventually advancing into Galicia. G’s advances into France were successfully beaten back by F with GB’s help. And A-H were pushed out of Italy as it’s forces were diverted to the R front and to help G against F.

However, T had some success against GB, resisting GB attacks on Mesopotamia and advancing into Egypt. Also G went on the rampage in Africa, killing off most of the GB & F units sent to knock them out. G’s dreams of an African empire were short-lived, with the USA eventually arriving and creating their own instead.

G & GB navies cowered in their North Sea ports, neither able to find the courage to attack.

With R in Galicia, Italy advancing from the West and the arrival of the USA in Albania, Vienna was increasingly under siege. GB also eventually managed to push T out of Mesopotamia (with R help) and Egypt (supported by some Italian Infantry landings). Virtually all G’s forces were in the West facing F & GB incursions, but giving R space to expand.

The CP surrender was graciously accepted by the Entente!:blush:

2. Anniversary

Allies - Rob (Dran Black)
Axis - Dave played G; Simon as J; jointly played Italy

I was not in this game, but here is what I think I know!

J took India, but lost a naval battle with the USA in the Pacific. Furious J naval builds recovered some level of maritime parity, but at the cost of limited ground units being dispatched to Asia.

G struggled against R in the early stages, but by the end of the game had attained unit superiority on the eastern front. This was partly because some R units had headed south to recapture India.

The Allies managed to sink the Italian fleet, but at some cost. Consequently they only managed to take F once and promptly lost it to an Italian counter attack. In doing so they put their remaining Atlantic fleet in jeopardy.

G made significant incursions in Africa, but looked certain to lose them again, due to a GB factory in S Africa sending units north.

At the end neither side had sufficient advantage to claim victory. But it was agreed that the Axis were in a stronger position, with quite a lot more income, the possibility of making headway against R and the impending sinking of the Allied Atlantic fleet.

I invite my fellow players to post their own views on these games. Especially to correct my mistakes or fill in any gaps.

With continuing Covid 19 restrictions some of us decided to play via Zoom using triple a. Of course this was not as much fun as playing face to face, but the four of us who joined in very much enjoyed the day.

Mark (@Credulous) kindly hosted the Zoom session.

We decided to play Anniversary (1942 set up). Mark played Japan and Adam (@Private-Panic) Germany / Italy. Leo (@Wittmann) took USA & Russia and Andrew (@h0lym0nk) GB. The Allies had a bid of 12 which they placed as a GB destroyer off Canada and a R artillery.

The opening moves on the R front favoured R, as G counter attacks all suffered more casualties than they inflicted. GB attempted its Taranto moment and lost heavily, leaving Italy able to capture Egypt. Japan suffered no mishaps, killing the GB fleet of India, the US flotilla at Pearl Harbour and the Chinese fighter.

GB considered its choice of factory locations and decided to opt for South Africa. Fortunately Hirohito spotted the possibility of capturing this and under Japanese orders the Italian navy navigated the Suez Canal and dropped 2 ground units in south east Africa, and these were able to capture the factory the following turn.

The US landed in north Africa, but then lost its 2 transports, defended by a single destroyer, to a G Luftwaffe attack. The US decided to allocate a considerable proportion of its resources towards an Atlantic navy sufficient to allow further landings in north Africa. These pushed towards Egypt.

This allowed J some freedom in the Pacific. J captured India and built a factory there. Briefly this appeared threatened by US pressure on Egypt and a R threat south from the Caucasus, but the prudent deployment of J fighters to India and Egypt stymied any Allied ambitions. Later Australia also had the honour of joining the J empire!

Meanwhile G managed to keep R in check while also combining with I units to deny the Allies the opportunity of gaining the French national objective. As a result the Axis were gaining most of their national objectives, but the Allies few of theirs. This and the collapse of the British Empire gave the Axis an income advantage of around 30 ipcs per turn.

The Allies surrendered, with a G stack before the walls of Moscow and a growing J threat on Caucasus. The US Pacific fleet had captured a couple of islands (while J replaced the naval fighters it had sent to India) but had no opportunity to effect further advances. The US Atlantic fleet had sailed south to defend Brazil from Italy’s South African fleet, robbing north Africa of reinforcements. Perhaps the only bright point for the Allies was GB’s capture of Norway.

The four of us had a chat and decided that the autumn and winter BoB dates should be arranged with the intention of falling back on a virtual event should Coronavirus continue to preclude face to face play.

Congratulations to Argothair for winning the Bay Area A&A Anniversary tournament! 
Argothair:  Gold
Karl7:  Silver
Corpo24:  Bronze

Thank you all for attending and hope to do this again in the future with more players.  👍

There will be an Axis & Allies tournament hosted by The Columbus Area Boardgaming Society (CABS) at 11 am on May 14th in Worthington, Ohio. Featured will be a 1942 tourney & also a Global tourney. Go to the Columbus, Ohio Axis & Allies Meetup site for more details. Prizes for winners.

BATTLE REPORT

Another great day of 1942.2 action!

I think it is fair to say that both games provided lots of drama and - unusually - a clear outcome was achieved in each. Here is a brief battle report, to which others may wish to add their comments and corrections!

We had eight players which were allocated to two games of four players.

Game 1: Credulous, Private Panic, NFP1 and NFP2 (non forum players)

Sides allocated by bid, with PP and NFP1 gaining the allies on a 13 bid.

Lots happened, with the usual US/J fleet dancing in the Pacific, the UK managing to hang on to India and Africa and G wiping out half the Allied Atlantic fleet. But in the end it came down to the Russian front.

Both G &R built up significant stacks with R managing to hang on to over 20 income per turn right to the end. But combined G&J SBRs on Moscow were reducing R buys to 3 or 4 infantry per turn. Allied SBRs on Berlin were less successful.

Nevertheless, with the evening advancing and both sides staring at a draw, we agreed to end the game after the next round of play. Perhaps encouraged by this G risked taking Caucasus with its whole stack. R announced that it would attack that stack if allowed to take its next go. It was agreed that the outcome of that attack and G’s subsequent response would decide the game in a blaze of glory!

The loss of G’s Caucasus stack would leave one G land unit within range of Moscow - an infantry in West Russia. R allocated 1 inf and 1 art to destroy that G inf and attacked Caucasus with everything else.

The result was an epic Stalingrad moment in which R prevailed with 1 art and 3 figs remaining.

However the R inf + art attack on G’s 1 inf in W Russia failed! G then launched that inf supported by 4 fighters and 3 bombers at Moscow which was defended by 4 inf, 3 figs and 2 AA. The AA missed and G took Moscow with the inf and 2 bombers left.

What a way to finish a game!

Game 2: Dukla Passer, wittman, NFP3 & NFP4

Dukla Passer & NFP3 as axis, wittman & NFP4 as allies. No bids.

During the early stages the UK lost INDIA as the price to pay for keeping ‘‘AFRIKA’’.

There followed a big Naval battle off the Philippine Islands between J/US where the J navy was obliterated. Instead of thereafter contesting the Pacific, J invested in land units sweeping west across Asia.

G took Caucasus round 4 with 3 or 4 units remaining, but then reinforced by J with 3 tanks and 4 or 5 planes. R’s attempt to retake this territory lost it so much materiel that G then captured Moscow with one tank left.

At the end the UK and US controlled ATLANTIC and PACIFIC + AFRICA but these had no real impact on the situation in EUROPE/ASIA and the Allies had no prospect of regaining Moscow. Declared an Axis victory.

The Autumn 2015 BoB will be on 8th November.

Then the Winter 2016 one is on 7th February.

Both held in Derbyshire UK. A fun day playing 1942.2!

We currently have 7 definites and 1 possible for both of the above, leaving space for 2 or 3 additional players. First come first served. If interested please either reply to this thread or PM Private Panic.

I am hosting the Axis & Allies events at NashCon in Franklin, TN just south of Nashville on May 22-24.

http://www.meetup.com/Nashville-Axis-Allies-Meetup/events/221934955/

NashCon is held at the Cool Springs Marriott Convention Center in Franklin, TN.

Our group will focus on casual Axis & Allies board games: 1942, Global, Classic, and 1914. We will also hold a 1942 tournament.

This is our first year at NashCon. We plan to expand our tournament offerings in the future.

We have special pricing for admittance to NashCon for Nashville Axis & Allies Meetup Members of $15 for the weekend. All fees will be used to support tournament and raffle prizes.  Please RSVP at the link above.

NashCon is a gaming convention featuring Historical miniatures, tournaments, fantasy and science fiction games, role playing, board games, Advanced Squad Leader tournament and much more.

Why is there a german sub off the west coast of Africa? lol…