Summer 2022 Battle of Britain - 26th June - See Battle Report

The next Battle of Britain will be held on the 26th June. We currently have 9 players with space for more.

This all-day event is held in Derbyshire, UK. Typically we will have three A&A games running - Anniversary, 1942.2 and 1914 - allowing players to decide which they wish to join.

If you would like to come along the please either reply to this thread or contact me using the Chat facility on this website.

NB - the autumn event will be on the 9th October.

Cheers
Adam (PP)

Here is my battle report … be prepared to be amazed!!!

With seven of us we played 2 games:

1. 1914

Entente - Tomas (F, R & I) and Dave (UK & US)
CPs - Steve (AH & T) and Adam (G)

Two house rules - UK builds in India restricted to 4 units and ground units moving through friendly territories could move 2 spaces.

The CPs agreed that they would prioritise Moscow and accept retreats on the Western Front when necessary. This strategy began well, but AH failed to take Venice. Then Emperor Franz Josef began buying ships (a battleship, a cruiser and a transport) and Kaiser Wilhelm lost faith in the Moscow first strategy and started sending more units west. Meanwhile Sultan Mehmed 5 was embroiled in a long drawn out losing battle against the imperialist Brits in Mesopotamia. With the CPs having made few gains by the time of US entry to the war it seemed that the CPs were facing defeat.

The AH navy felt honour bound to engage the enemy in the central med having had such scarce resources lavished on it. Against mines and a superior Italian/British fleet victory was far from assured. But superior seamanship and fighting spirt won the day. Kaiser Wilhelm was forced to eat his words!

Italy then also had to buy ships. But it was still able to put a significant force into Venice threatening the much smaller AH garrison with annihilation. Once again AH kicked Italian butt!

Turkey found itself able to capture Egypt which was undefended.

G’s advance into France progressed slowly against combined F / UK resistance. The Kaiser planned to risk an advance into Burgundy, so threatening Paris. Then the US landed their entire army in Belgium rather than adding it to the allied stack in Normandy. The Kaiser could not ignore the easy victory on offer and the entire US presence in Europe was erased.

The allied fleet in the North Sea decided to kill the G fleet off Kiel. They succeeded but only just! Shame - there were perhaps 15 allied transports left undefended in the North Sea.

But the real game changer was the Russian front. G advanced against the bigger R stack in Ukraine, sacrificing a lot of infantry in the process. AH then also moved into the now contested territory. Emperor Franz Josef then spotted an opportunity that Kaiser Wilhelm had not. Leaving one unit in Ukraine, so that it remained contested, the G stack moved into contested Poland and the AH stack into the contested territory to the east, bordering Moscow. R had no choice but to retreat to Moscow and both stacks returned to Ukraine, capturing it. R was now unable to venture out of Moscow and having to fight on with little income.

All of which meant that by day’s end the CPs possessed an advantage but with so much left to do they felt unable to claim victory and the game was declared a draw.

2. 1942.2

I was not in this game, but was will do my best to capture the sheer unexpected direction of events.

Allies - Darren (UK) and Colin (US & R)
Axis - Mark (G & J)

Allies had a 12 bid and placed a sub off Australia and another off India.

This allowed the UK to kill the J southern fleet and capture the East Indies. The US went all Pacific and in no time at all they had destroyed what remained of J naval and air power. The US regained the Philippines and the UK took Borneo and south Asia.

G took and then lost Egypt. But otherwise it threw everything it could at Russia. Moscow fell, making only a minimal dent in G’s forces.

However, G air power being focused to the east did allow a UK fleet to operate in the Atlantic. France and NW Europe were traded. The UK also took Scandinavia, Leningrad and various territories in eastern Europe. UK income grew close to 70 ipcs.

Nevertheless G had so many tanks and aircraft at its disposal that the Axis looked likely to win. The US attempted attacks on Manchuria and then Japan and were rebuffed with heavy casualties both times. G tank columns pushed south and captured the middle east and India and Africa seemed set to fall.

Then the UK recaptured Moscow, which had been left poorly defended. Although G looked set to retake Moscow, Leningrad and also gain India, the Allies had sufficient victory cities at the end of the US turn to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Phew!

@barnee No! We missed him if course. He had to cancel a few days beforehand.