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

Two week until the Axis and Allies Tournament at Strategicon in LA! Register here: https://www.strategicon.net/ Here is a video with more info:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMF6n9C79nU&t=56s

Again 6 hardy souls braved the pandemic! We decided to play a game of 1914 so we could all participate in the same game.

1. 1914

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

CPs - Mike (Aftertaste) as AH & T; Adam (Private-Panic) as G
Entente - Andrew (h0lym0nk) as Italy & USA; Mark (Credulous) as F; Jon (jon1988) as R; Dave as GB.

R was able to consolidate virtually all it’s units into Poland and so put the fear of God into AH & G, who countered with almost equal stacks in Silesia (G) and Galicia (AH and some G). The Entente decided to pursue a G first strategy and R advanced it’s stack into E Prussia. The CPs rubbed their hands with glee! While this might create a possibility of the Entente capturing Berlin it certainly gave the CPs an easy route to Moscow. G put everything it could into E Prussia to fight a battle in which it might have had a slight advantage, so as to prevent the R stack retreating. In order to do this G accepted the need to fall back on the Western Front.

The battle in E Prussia resulted in quite a few more losses for R than G. The dwindling R stack was stuck there without reinforcements while G could add units easily if it wished.

Meanwhile F pressed forward against G’s western borders, reaching the Ruhr. Perhaps F had a slight advantage in that territory and it also had a sizeable stack in Munich to follow up. Unfortunately F lost badly in the Ruhr, effectively ensuring that G would recapture with sufficient force to stall the F attack.

G took out the GB North Sea fleet for the loss of only 2 subs.

Turkey kicked GB out of Mesopotamia and captured Egypt.

All of this in just 2 turns.

The Entente abjectly surrendered!

2. 1941

With some hours of the day left to play we decided to follow with a game of 1941. Dave had to leave so we now had 5 players. Only house rule was an additional GB destroyer off Canada to balance the game. Sides allocated at random.

Allies - Mike (Aftertaste) as GB; Andrew (h0lym0nk) as R; Mark (Credulous) as US
Axis - Adam (Private-Panic) as G; Jon (jon1988) as J.

The Axis decided on a strategy of jointly pressing hard on Moscow, probably linking up in the Caucasus. And this is what they did!

However, a GB & US fleet was established off the coast of Western Europe by the end of turn 1. Normally this takes longer so G was not happy! By the end of turn 2 the Allies had 7 units in Western Europe, including a US and a R fighter, with a combined defensive power of 19. G decided to attack this with the 8 units it had available, with an attacking power of 21. I have just used triple a to discover an attacking success probability of 70%. Risky. But absolute disaster!

Clearly it still hurts!

In the meantime J captured China, the Spice Islands and the Phillipines.

Aware that G would be unable to afford units for the Caucasus given Allied Pressure on Berlin the Axis decided that their chances on Moscow were not going to improve. G’s sacrificial attack was another dice disaster, doing far less damage to R than J needed if its follow-up was to have any chance of success.

After J duly undertook its kamikaze assault, the Axis tearfully surrendered.

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.

This event will be going ahead via Zoom - remote play with a shared screen - rather than face to face.

In my experience this by far the best way to play wittmann!!! :grin:

Hi h0lym0nk

Shame you could not join us this time. You will have seen that the autumn one is on October 15th. Hope you will be able to come to that?

I am currently sorting the date for the winter one so watch this board for that.

Cheers
Adam (PP)

Credulous has provided the following battle report on the other game:

The 1942 game was contested between Credulous and two non-forum players from the village. The Axis very quickly established themselves as firm favourites for the win wiping out a significant Russian stack in Karelia, and the Siberian army massing on the Japanese border. The Allies never really recovered from these early losses, which were compounded with the early loss of Egypt and India. In a desperate bid to counter the American’s launched an audacious bid to capture Toyko via amphibious landings, but this desperate gambit was quashed and in the following turn a four carrier Japanese battlegroup sailed into home waters to sink the American battleships and cruisers and leave the US Pacific fleet in tatters. Finally the British launched a desperate attack of their own on Berlin having established a temporary beach head in Holland Belgium, but this attack was also quashed leaving nothing to prevent the triumphant Axis armies marching into Berlin. At the close of the game the Axis empire stretched from Normandy to Eastern Siberia, encompassing everything in between and the entirety of Africa, along with Australia. The contest was over by 3.40pm allowing an early get away for all concerned to soak up the sunshine and fine weather!

Brayca,

The Dice Turret would love to sponsor this event.  Send me an email with your info.  I’ll send you out some COMBAT TURRETs you can use as give a ways.

Thanks,
Brian
www.TheDiceTurret.com
brian@thediceturret.com

Axis and Allies Miniatures tournament Sat July 15th 5pm Valley Stream, NY (Long Island). All skill levels welcome. Call for details and directions. DCI membership is required and can be activated before the tournament for those who are not members. Membership is free and the tournament charge is $5.00. Prizes and giveaways for all.

Marks Comics
291 North Central Ave.
Valley Stream, Ny 11580
516 872-5919