It’s a miracle ! It resurrected itself :)
Woo hoo! 🎉
Finally! Finally!!! Japan was the one who won the game for the Axis!!
Great game report, entertaining and engaging throughout. Beautiful map as always.
Well done to @VictoryFirst!
EXP Game 5 Stahl 1940
Panzerstahl-Helm Axis
barnee Allies
Saved game
EXP Game 5 Stahl F 16.tsvg
Another hard fought battle but the Allies take the win in Late 1947.
G started off with a modest Waffen buy and some ships for the Kriegsmarine.
They would attack both UK Fleets in 110 and 111, as well as all of France and their Ships in 93.
They would not attack the Brits in 106 off of Nova Scotia.
They suffered some Air losses but were successful in all Attacks.
Late 1940 had units from all Branches of the Armed Forces being deployed. Most notably, the Graf Spree was launched from Southern France with 2 Me109T Ftrs.
Early 41 and the Wehrmacht was the focus, although another Wolfpack formed as well.
A strong Naval Task Force moves to 91 and GIB is conquered.
The 109T’s are lost in battle against solo Allied ships in 97 and 99.
The Bulk of the Wehrmacht concentrates in Romainia.
Late 41 and the build is similar to Early 41. A Panzer General has been commisioned and Guderian is anxiously awaiting for his Panzers to arrive.
Von Rundstedt has completed the formation of Army Group South in Romainia.
The Soviet Union is not attacked.
Just wanted to get this started. Try and keep it short and concise going forward :) yea right lol
Soviet Union
Early 1940 and the commies max out there Landmine and Paratrooper capacity, as well as bringing in a godless commisar.
Late 40 and the Soviets produce 5 more LMs but go heavy with Tanks, producing 4.
Another commisar joins the team so his commie buddy isn’t lonely.
Early 41 and LM production takes off again.
Zhukhov is promoted to Commander of 1st Tank.
Late 41 and Katyusha Rockets begin to be produced and stalin promotes large numbers of Infantry to Guard status.
Stalin declares war on Germany and it’s Allies and takes a undefended Finland.
The Soviets reinforce their Bloodless Conquest Heavily.
I’m just gonna roll through everybody’s first 2 years, then dial it back :)
Nippon
Early 40 and two Factories are constructed in China. Normal land attacks occur.
Late 40 and JPN goes with heavy Infantry builds along with two Transports.
Brutal and Ruthless Combat continues against China, now in it’s interior Territories.
Early 41 and the arrogant British have attacked the Co-Prosperity Sphere !
Vengenance will be had !
Late 41 and the IJA and IJN split resources, with a Naval base being constructed in Hainan.
The British are pushed out of Yunnan, back to Burma.
USA
The yanks destroy their Facilities in the Philippines and the Army builds Fortifications.
Most resources are spent on the Navy.
The Aleutians are reinforced or … well, Army Forces occupy them.
Late 40 and Uncle Sam realizes he should get his head out of his ass and start to rearm. They launch the USS Missouri and continue to Fortify the Pacific.
Early 41 and the Sister ship to the Missouri is launched. The USS Iowa. These two Powerful Naval Vessels will have a Huge impact in the bloodletting that will soon take place.
Late 41 and the Americans continue to invest heavily in their Navy.
They stare in disbelief after the arrogant and overconfident British attack Japanese Forces in China.
They are now at War but conduct no Attacks.
China
By Late 1941 they are still able to control some of their Northern and Western TTys, as well as a few in the Interior.
UK
The British repair the fortunate HMS Hood and invest heavily in the Army. Surprisingly, pragmatic heads prevail in Malaya and the Singapore Harbor is destroyed.
Late 1940 and the Commonwealth Member South Africa upgrades their Factory to Heavy Industry.
The Pacific is Fortified and the RAF deploys a new squadron of Fighters, as well as a DD for anti-submarine purposes.
A major combined RAF and Royal Navy attack, sink the Italia Regia in 97.
Early 1941 and British intelligence has detected long range German Bomber concentrations in Western Germany. Churchill orders Factories to move underground.
Due to the coercion of the local population, Administrators, with help from the Army, build a Minor Factory in Egypt.
3 Paratrooper Divisions deploy to London.
Tanks and newly formed Infantry also activate.
An intoxicated and irritable Churchill throws a fit and tells his Foreign Secretary that they are at War with Japan.
The imbecile makes it public and Churchill would go on to later say, that it was the worst hangover of his life.
The enthusiastic tommies would make short lived gains in Yunnan and Malaya, although Singapore would hold for another year, but Nippon would counterattack themselves in time.
Iraq is straightened out with who is the boss and a minor LCV and Para attack take Holland and Normandy.
Late 41 sees heavy Armor and Para buys, as well as some ASW units.
Combats in Yunnan and Normandy. Both Attacks succeed.
Egypt has a heavy Armor presence with 5 Div now.
Italia
Italy produces 2 LCVs and a Para.
The remaininig Regia Marina redeems itself and sinks the UK ships in 97. ( I was off 6 months in UK attack above )
Late 1940 sees strong Army builds as well as another LCV.
Combats in Syria, Tunisia and Greece.
All succeed, except for Syria attack, where French Foreign Legionnaires fight to the death and force the combined Amphib, Para and Air Attack of Italia to come up just short of Victory.
While glorified in the future by the French for the heroic defense of the Legionnaires, they conveniently leave out the 2 British Air Wings that shot the Italains to pieces.
Early 41 and Air Trprt and LCV, along with Army units deploy. Italy moves Northwest to Holland and defeats a UK landing. The fuhrer is pleased and will reward Italy in the future.
Indigenous French troops are defeated in Algeria and Italy rakes in 28 PUs with all Allied ships in the Med either sunk (most) or sailed away.
Mussolini’s eyes glaze with greed.
Late 41 and heavy Infantry buys continue, as well as a LCV and Air Trprt.
Combat continues in Western Europe and a new theatre in the Eastern Front. Bessarabia.
The insufficiently supported Normandy attack fails in a stalemate, although Italy sent everything they could.
A strong German Fleet in Toulon keeps the Med free of Allied ships and Italy once again rakes in 28 PUs.
Mussolini starts eyeing another mistress much to the distress of his current ones.
ANZAC
They go with a DD instead of a traditional Trprt build. Take custodianship of Dutch Islands.
Some Dudes and a Ftr in Late 40
Another Ftr and finally a Trprt in Early 41.
Buy a Fctry and upgarde NSW Fctry with the Singapore money.
Still no combats but JPN won’t let them sit the War out forever :)
France
Nothing signifigant to report.
Sitrep end of 1941
Here’s most of the pacific in one or two actually :)
E Front look
For the rest of the War, Germany is slowly pushed back and ground down by attrition from the soviets on the Eastern Front.
They make a brilliant tactical move, and conquer Egypt and it’s British built Fctry.
They would hold it for a couple years, but a disastrous attack by the Luftwaffe against the giant yank Fleet off of Italia, they only hit 4 out of 20 with all hitters at 3 or better, and a defeat in Sudan against British forces from S Africa, would see them lose control.
Major pivot point in the War.
Nippon is able to hold it’s own for a while, but eventually, Anglo-Saxon superiority shines through and the IJN is forced to protect their Home Waters.
The IJA is able to keep pressure on the soviets, but the Indian Army breaks out and china becomes untenable.
UK is able to keep up minor attacks on Western Europe, forcing the reich to constantly counterattack, spending valuable resources in the process.
ANZAC produces large numbers of Submarines, which plays a big role in the cowing the IJN back to Tokyo Bay.
Situation 1947
Global 1940, No. 16 Game Report:
This is the only post in the No. 16 Game Report.
Players:
Axis: The Captain
Allies: Keld Rasmussen
Germany:
As part of a Combined Axis Strategic Plan - where the Strategic Objective is to either capture London or weaken the United Kingdom Economy on a massive scale - Germany prepares for Sea Lion in Early 1940.
Landing Craft units are mass produced and the Luftwaffe is transfered to the Western Europe sphere in order to support Sea Lion.
Soviet Union:
As part of the Combined Allied Strategic Plan - where the Strategic Objective is to win the War by Economic Victory in Late 1941 or Early 1942 - the Soviet Union are preparing for an attack against Korea and Manchuria as well as an Airborne Assault on Norway and Finland.
Japan:
Japanese forces are preparing for a Soviet Invasion in the North - and are fighting heavily in China.
Preparations are made for an assault against either India, South Pacific islands or Australia.
United States:
A Heavy Build Up of naval and land forces in both the Atlantic and the Pacific is ready for attack in Late 1941.
China:
Chinese forces are fighting with skill and determination - and the Chinese troops are able to withstand the Japanese attacks and keep them occupied to prevent a massive attack against the British forces in India.
United Kingdom:
Since the Soviet Union and United States are not able to launch any attacks against Europe until Late 1941, the British forces must try to capture as many islands as possible in the Pacific.
Supported by ANZAC forces, the United Kingdom launches their attack against Japanese forces in the Pacific in Early 1941.
In Europe, the United Kingdom is under heavy pressure from German and Italian forces now that it seems obvious that Sea Lion is being prepared.
More than 75 % of the British IPC are spend to defend London. This means that India and Africa only receive minimum reinforcements.
Italy:
From Early 1940 Italy mass produces Landing Craft units as part of the preparations for Sea Lion.
Late 1941:
At the end of Late 1941 - after France’s turn is over - the Allies have a Combined IPC Level at 185 IPC.
This is as close to Economic Victory as the Allies will ever come.
The cost for getting this far has had an impact on the Allied War Production that gives the initiative to the Axis - and from then on, the initiative stays on the Axis side.
Early 1942:
The Axis:
An invasion of United Kingdom is not possible due to a heavy British build up of troopes in London.
Germany and Italy launches attacks across Africa, the Middle East and the Soviet Union.
Rapidly, the United Kingdom Economy is starting to collapse - reaching an IPC Level at 23 IPC in Early 1943.
In the Pacific, Asia and Soviet Union, Japan launches massive attacks and rapidly decreases all Allied economies.
In Late 1943 Germany takes over Italy, even though Italy has 53 IPC in their bank.
This brings the German Total IPC Cash Economy to 193 IPC.
By Early 1944, the Allied logistics and War production has collapsed.
These pictures show the Military and Economic Stituation in Early 1944 at the beginning of Germany’s turn:
Awesome Game ! Quick too.
What did the reich do with it’s LCVs after Sealion was called off ? I see a few in S Italia and Greece, caucasus.
Did the Allies have any key battles that could have gone their way for Economic Victory ? Or did they just fall short without enough strength ?
Way cool you guys got to play each other :) Probably doesn’t happen as much as you’d like :)
The German LCV units were split up, so there were continuously 2 to 4 LCV units in Western Germany in order to support Norway - and still keep the British busy with defense in London.
2 LCV units were transported by Strategic Rail Movement to Greece - to either attack into Southern Russia or Syria to keep the German forces in the Middle East supplied.
The Allies might be able to win the War economically early in the War - if the Axis are not aware of the danger.
In Asia and the Pacific only China, United Kingdom, ANZAC, France and the Soviet Union can attack Japanese troops in until Late 1941 - so it is a major task to knock out the Japanese and to get enough IPC to win the War without support from the USA.
In Europe the Soviet Union and the United States also cannot attack until Early 1941 - so by then, they must be ready for a Full Scale Massive Offensive to be succesfull.
A solution could be to attack the Strict Neutral Nations - but if it fails, the consequences would be disastrous and the War would most likely be lost.
And again - succes depends on Surpise and Deception from the Allies - if the Axis find out in time, the Allies must have a Plan B.
Nice win for the Axis forces,
And also impressive to achieve a victory like this concluding all of Africa and the Middle East for the Axis.
It seems like the Japanese navy did not lose a single transport ? 12 transports still alive.
Butt I see lots of errors from the Allies player.
Please correct me if I am wrong.
I know the pressure can be very touch and a mistake is very fast to make butt ,
( that’s the nice thing about these game reports, you can visualise and watch the game reports very good. And see what tactics are used and learn something )
First of all:
The factory in South Africa was not made underground and been destroyed.
The harbour on Kwangtung is still intact.
( also on the phillippens both harbour and airfield still intact !)
The US should invade Africa immediately instead of Normandy.
A lot of German u-boats on convoy raiding.
The US fleet in seazone 25 not able to free up New Guinea.
No lend lease fighters where send to Russia?
No heavy battleships in service for both the US and the Japanese navy?
Russia is able to build at least 8 partisans in the next round. In 8 different areas
The British Royal Navy consist of one submarine ? At this point in the war ? What happend here ?
Great game report! The Axis certainly seemed to put up a fight.
Love how you have two pictures directly below each other to show the full longitude of one theater.
Brilliant game! Definitely a shorter one.
Still undefeated in these game reports, I see. Nice Axis win. Especially impressive given how the Soviets have been unable to hold on to most of their territory. Real close early on.
I’m curious. What specific territories did the Allies am for early on to try to get that economic victory? How did that differ from other games? Thank you!
I don’t think Kwangtung Harbor that important. Can reach Carolines, but I don’t think any land units gonna be there to transport.
Not sure what went down in S AF, but I’d go Hvy Ind over Underground and destruct. Maybe you meant that point in time as the Reich was heavy in Africa :)
Yea, probably a good idea to dust that PHI Harbor.
Anyway, I guess we should switch to strat thread if we continue discussion :)
Hey, if you wanna give triplea another try, Victory says he’s up for it :)
You should brother. There’s a learning curve, but you’ll totaly dig it :)
Rock On
The United Kingdom shipped 2 Fighter units and 1 Tactical Bomber unit to the Soviets (Caucasus) in Early 1942.
A German Paratrooper assault eliminated those Lend-Lease Air Units in Late 1942.
Fresh Lend-Lease units were not able to get through the German frontline units at any time again.
The Global 1940 No. 17 Game Report is expected to be released in Late 2024 as soon as the game has ended.
Global 1940, No. 2 Game Report:
This is the only post in the No 2 Game Report.
Players:
Axis: Cornelis Post
Allies: Beserker
The game has endend after Germany, in round 10
IPC Income round 9
without Bonus.
The Axis 141.
The Allies 128
Germany:
Germany attacks Russia in round 3, the Italians captured Caucasus in round 3.
in round 4 with help of the Italians a huge force was on Caucasus, also one German tank army.
after this the axis held the Caucasus for several turns, the Axis quickly conquered the middle east.
In round 9 the Allies were able to defeat the last German forces in the middle east,
The desert army was:
One Tank army
One waffen ss army. ( dropped with air units)
and 10 infantry.
Because of the allies strategy to build no navy at all in the Atlantic,
the Germans saw a perfect chance to execute Sealion after the take over.
Soviet Union:
The Sovjet Union was under heavy pressure from Germany at the start of the game, butt because of the axis invading the middle east, this was relieving for the Russians.
in the following turns the Russians are becoming very strong.
only 1 plane was successfully send lend lease.
3 planes from the English where destroyed by axis forces. (Also send lend lease)
The Russians where fighting a war of attrition.
Japan:
The Japanese forces are building up a huge amount of transports till round 4,
they only build 1 factory in china in the early stages of war.
the Plan was to take as fast as possible the money islands and the Philippens.
The Japanese build up a huge forces in the Caroline islands, The US could not capture it the entire game.
In Round 9 the Japanese defeated the last remaining Chinese soldiers.
In round 8 because of the huge build up of transports the British soldiers in India must retreat.
They destroyed the factory harbor and airfield. ( first making the factory underground.)
United States:
The US invented a new strategy to use air transport to move units to Africa every round.
which led to 50+ mechanized infantry in Asia and Afrika.
The only navy build was on the pacific,
The US navy in the pacific was a very strong fleet.
With one carrier with 2 fighter aces ass well.
The US was constantly looking to attack the Caroline islands. Butt at this point in the war it was no option till so far.
China:
The Chinese Army was doing a great job and stead a very long time alive.
United Kingdom:
The UK attacked the Italian fleet in the first round.
In the 2 round they attacked the remaining fleet of the Italians,
which led to no Italian navy butt also no English navy.
The UK was heavenly reinforcing Afrika and also India,
Java where 10 infantry was dug in, in bunkers.
Italy:
From Early 1940 Italy mass produces Landing Craft units, to invade Russia and the middle east.
The Italians where very poor in the beginning because of the massive attacks from the allies,
butt with help of the Germans the Italians captured the entire middle east.
They hold it for at least 2-3 round.
with help of German U boats the Mediterranean sea was swept clean in round 3.
because of no allied navy the Italians held the bonus for 5 IPC the entire game afterwards for a clean sea.
The Anzac,
Because of the Japanese attacks in round 4 the Anzac where very weakened,
The Anzac focus was to recapture islands and do convoy raiding.
The Following pictures show the beginning of Round 10,
because London was captured, and the Allies could not recapture it, it was not necessary to complete the round after the German turn
![IMG_9136.JPEG]
With the take over germany pulled all troops back together with italian troops.
Italy bought 8 transports before the take over.
The Germans build 12 transports after the take over. Total of 21 transports.
And 5 landing crafts
So after the take over the UK has one round to buy units for London, butt the UK had 39 ipc at this point, so they purchased 9 infantry and 1 flak tower.
Units involved in Sealion.
The Axis;
3 Fighters aces
2 heavy bombers
4 stuka’s
3 fighters
3 strategic bombers.
13 tanks
16 artillery
17 infantry ( also 1 elite )
2 combat engineers.
4 panzer grenadiers
5 landing crafts
The Allies
13 british infantry
1 elite
2 french soldiers
2 UK fighters
1 French fighter
1 tactical bomber
2 heavy bombers from the US
5 AA guns
a Flak tower.
The flak tower scored 2 hits, the total hits of the allied forces was 12
The axis hit 35 + hits in the first round.
(/forums/assets/uploads/files/1724090220415-img_9136-resized.jpeg) 
Very cool!
Nice to see an Axis victory with some variety. Isn’t this the first successful Sea Lion on this thread? I can’t remember, there’s been so many game reports over the years here (over 675 posts!).
Yes it’s the first successful sea lion attack.🙌🏻
Nice of the saudis to let the Allies park there planes in the desert :)
Did the Kriegsmarine convoy the Atlantic hard then ? Did they threaten USA zones ?
In the previous round all u-boats retreated.
So when Germany takes London there would be more money 😎
Like 5-6 u boats did convoy raiding.
The last 4 rounds the UK lost every round at least 10 ipc
And Yes the German u-boats attacked US convoys butt only 1 time.
The English defeated the sub with a destroyer and a tactical bomber.
Devious!
via TripleA
Axis: barnee
Allies: VictoryFirst
Link to our game thread: https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/topic/41097/5-barnee-axis-vs-victoryfirst-allies-g40-house-rules-expansion-by-the-captain
Save file: exp-game-5b-victory-allies9.tsvg
Barnee and I just finished our 5th game. It was an awesome game so I will try to write an awesome game report about it 😀 The report will be broken up into three parts, each consisting of three rounds of play.
Germany:
The Germans did a standard waffen-buy with an elite and 4 U-boats. They made standard attacks against France and attacked both Allied fleets in SZ 110 and SZ 111. All attacks went well except for the Paris one, where they lost a bunch of units due to bad rolls, and the SZ 111 one where the poor-performing Luftwaffe broke off the attack and let a damaged HMS Hood sail away.
They invaded Yugoslavia but retreated after round 1 so that it was an easy walk-over for Italy.
They continued to build up their Kriegsmarine with some U-boats but they also reinforced the Heer with Waffen units and Panzer-grenadiers.
Russia:
The Russians went mine-heavy this game. They purchased a shitload of mines along with two combat engineers so that they could move and dig them in more easily.
They set up a dynamic defense with units in the West and the East.
Japan:
Hirohito surprised everyone except himself by declaring war on the Allies on turn 2. Naval bases in Kwangtung and Malaya were captured still intact, however the Philippines attack was a disaster for them. Due to a communication breakdown, two infantry in Kwangsi didn’t take part in the attack, and together with some bad rolls, they did not manage to take it while suffering heavy casualties.
In Early 1941 they continued expanding by taking parts of the Dutch East Indies and advancing further into China.
United States:
After the defeat of France, Roosevelt didn’t like the look of Hitler and was therefore poised to go heavy on Germany the moment they were able to join the war. However, the early Japanese surprise attack forced a response and therefore threw a wrench into the American plans. They increased their Pacific naval production significantly and quickly formed a large fleet to counter Japanese aggression. A naval base in Wake Island was constructed to help with their logistics over the seas. Still, Germany was not forgotten and the Atlantic saw some large reinforcements too.
United Kingdom and China:
Admiral Dudley Pound was delighted to see the HMS Hood still being around and moved him to Iceland, only to see him become part of the bottom of the sea anyway by a German U-boat attack.
Attacks against Ethiopia and SZ 96 were made to slow down Italian expansionism. Nevertheless, the Italians quickly stood with a large army on the doorsteps of Cairo, with some help from the German Luftwaffe. A factory was built to stop their advance, however, with the railroad connection between South Africa and Cairo cut, preventing vital reinforcements from coming, it was uncertain if they could withstand the massive sudden pressure from the Axis forces. Therefore, the British built another factory in Persia in case Cairo wouldn’t hold.
An early Japanese attack allowed early British entrance into China. Yunnan saw some heavy reinforcements by Chinese and British forces, to ensure that the Burma Road stayed open.
Italy:
Italy did standard stuff, focusing on Paratroopers and LCVs. They made a sneaky declaration of war against the Russians in Early 1941, opening up ways of attack for the Germans.
The British had to scramble for troops to defend Cairo, but in the end, it proved to be just enough to hold out. The Italians then moved away from Cairo and turned their eyes to the Middle East.
ANZAC and France:
The Australians produced a mixture of land units, destroyers, and transports. They also upgraded their Sydney factory to heavy industry to maximize the number of units they could bring against Japan.
The French managed to kill an Italian sub in the Med, but their boats inevitably got destroyed by German Lufwaffe.
Click here to download a high-resolution PNG file of the map at the end of Early 1941: Early 1941.png
Here is a preview:
Battle of the Atlantic:
The Germans started gradually decreasing their investment in U-boat production as the war against the Soviets required the most attention. The U-boats did limited damage to the British shipping and were quickly swept away by Allied naval task forces, consisting of numerous destroyers, a US Heavy Battleship, and two carriers. By Early 1942, most of the U-boats were already destroyed, and by Late 1942 the Allied fleet was entering the Mediterranean.
Eastern Front:
Because the Russians had numerous units operating elsewhere, the Axis were able to make a strong push into Soviet territory. The Russians avoided large-scale conflict and mostly retreated, while digging in numerous mines on the frontline to slow down the advance. However in Late 1942, the Germans were able to move almost their entire army to Smolensk, putting a lot of pressure on Moscow.
Africa/Middle East:
After a short siege of Cairo, Italian troops started marching to the Middle East. They also scooped up a not-very well-defended Gibraltar in Late 1941, although it was recaptured by the Allies the next turn. At the end of round 4, they were at the peak of their power, collecting 37 IPCs.
The Persia and Cario factories were bombed by German Luftwaffe, as well as the naval base. The British moved the Persian factory underground to avoid further bombing. Their complexes were running at full speed to reinforce the area. In Early 1942, the Russians supported the British in the Middle East, and destroyed an Italian corps in Northwest Persia, and also captured Iraq with a paratrooper assault, giving them some extra income (also a +3 bonus because it is a pro-axis territory). After a subsequent British attack, all Axis troops in the Middle East were eliminated.
With the Allied fleets arriving, the Italians started preparing for a German Takeover and used the rest of their forces in Africa to make a suicide attack against Egypt.
Asia:
Things started to go wrong for Japan as the Soviet Union made an early declaration of war against them in Late 1941. A Soviet Army Corps entered China through the Sinkiang mountains and caught a Japanese contingent in Kansu off-guard with a surprise strike. They also invaded empty Korea, but the rest of their forces stayed put in Amur to preserve strength.
Yunnan turned into a defensive stronghold and the Japanese were unable to take it. This gave the Chinese much-needed resources for the war effort, and they were able to turn the whole front into a stalemate, with the Russians supporting in the north.
The Japanese factories in Shantung and Kiangsu were producing combat units at full speed, however they were simply getting outnumbered and to make matters worse, in Late 1942 the Americans were able to land in Shantung, destroying one of the complexes.
Pacific:
The swift victories in Early 1941 were quickly shoved away when the Americans captured the Caroline Islands with a sizeable fleet. The Japanese, running out of landing forces, weren’t able to take the well-defended islands of Sumatra and Java. They instead reinforced the IJN with two Yamatos and later with another carrier. Both fleets had a stand-off for a while, staring at each other from a distance of around 3000 km 😀. The Japanese faced a lack of screening ships, allowing the Allies to make amphibious landings with transports.
By Late 1942, all of the Dutch East Indies had been liberated.
Download a high-resolution PNG file of the map at the end of Late 1942 here: Early 1942.png
Here is a preview:
Asia & Pacific:
The war has now seriously turned against Japan. They are being outnumbered on all fronts and are unable to hold on. They managed to recapture Shantung but were forced to abandon the Philippines. The superiority of Allied screening ships became prevalent as they were swarming the Pacific, blocking off the Japanese fleet in SZ 6.
After another Allied landing - this time in Kiangsu - the second Japanese industrial complex in Asia was destroyed. By Early 1944, they lost most of China as well as numerous Pacific islands. However, they eventually did manage to make some gains against the Russians in Siberia, but it was too late.
Europe:
With the poor show-off from Hirohito, Hitler knew he had to pull the trigger to have a chance of victory. Not the trigger of his Walther to shoot himself (😂), but the order to make a large push against the Russians. The Germans prepared for Operation Typhoon and made moves to encircle Moscow.
The Russians were significantly weaker because they sent large army formations to help in various areas of the board. 3rd Army Corps was still chilling in China, the Soviet infantry army in the Far East was having some clashes with the Japanese, while the Soviet Middle East army was making its way back home. Still, Stalin ordered his generals to avoid retreat and make large counter-attacks against the German spearheads. All attacks were successful, but in the heat of all action, he forgot one important thing, and that was the defense of Moscow.
Late 1943 was a good turn for Axis Germany. Italy was about to be taken over and the previous turn they made attacks with Paras and landing crafts against the Caucasus. After the Takeover, these units became German and were able to attack again, causing a disaster for the British in the Middle East. They were ill-prepared against this move and therefore hadn’t set up good defenses. Using SZ 128, the Germans were able to capture Persia and its factory, as well as Iraq.
The German generals grabbed their calculators and computed the odds of a German attack against Moscow, getting a result of 55-60%. Given the inevitable downfall of their Pacific ally Japan, they decided against it and mustered all of their units for a final push. The Soviets defenders were caught by surprise and missed a bunch of their rolls. After the dust had settled, the Germans were driving around the Kremlin with an intact panzer army, two waffen panzers and one German plane. A terrible defeat for Stalin, who blamed his generals for the disaster and executed them.
Still, the Russians had several units around Moscow and were able to recapture Moscow, although the loss of the capital was a big blow for them, together with the loss of the British factory in Persia, which deprived them of a direct supply line of Allied fighters. Fortunately, they managed to keep a path through Novosibirsk open so that British units from China could still rail to Moscow. The Germans were scrambling for troops to have a chance to deliver a crippling blow to them.
In Early 1944, the Germans weren’t able to muster enough troops for a second Moscow attack and were getting pushed out of the Middle East and the Caucasus by the British. Persia was liberated, although not before the Axis destroyed the underground factory there… (cheeky move 😀)
The Allies, after having built up their strength for several turns, now finally made a large-scale landing in Holland, with a US tank army and large amounts of fighters and bombers.
However, they didn’t get to fight any further because the Allied income at the end of Late 1944 reached a level of 194, thus ending the game.
Download a detailed PNG image of the final look of the map here: Early 1944.png
Here is a preview:
Post-game commentary:
Funny enough, this game showed a lot of resemblance with our 3rd game. In that game, the game also ended on turn 9 due to an Allied Economic victory, Japan got beaten back pretty badly, and Moscow got captured but it didn’t change the outcome of the game. All these things also happened in this game, even though for the most part we employed different strategies. As the US, I tried to go more or less 50/50 on Germany and Japan. I wanted to go after Germany at first but with the early Japanese DoW, I had to do some stuff against them as well. In many A&A games, this strategy usually doesn’t work, but in the Expansion, it worked out pretty well, which I really like!
Unfortunately, I made the same stupid donkey mistake of letting Moscow get captured. Now that it happened again, I will try to make sure the defense of Moscow is safe above all things. It can’t always go right!
I now think Turn 2 is too early for Japan to attack. At first, I thought it was the best turn but after this game and the game between me and Panzer, I’ve changed my mind. Early on their empire is kinda unstable so they are vulnerable to attacks. If the Allies put enough pressure against them from all sides, Japan could have some serious problems very quickly. Above everything, they should prevent the Allies from forming a stack in Yunnan which I think is the worst thing for Japan ever. If they attack Turn 3, Turn 4, or even not attack at all, they have more time to focus on China and prevent this.
From now on, barnee and I will play our games on the TripleA forum, however we will still write reports here in this thread.
@barnee Hehe already looking forward to the next one 😁 Feel free to share your thoughts on this game as well if you want!
