24th March 2019 Battle Report
We had a record attendance with 10 players, three of whom were new to the event and very welcome. I must say they fitted right in and we all had a great time. My thanks to everyone for braving traffic and road works in order to join us, and to Dave, who very kindly allows us to use his house.
Below is a picture of nine of our 10 players. We took pity on our fellow forum members and asked the least good looking of us to take the picture!
I wrote the two battle reports below, although one is entirely based on notes provided by Leo. Another battle report will be added by Mike, hopefully in the not too distant future. Everyone else is invited to add their own comments and corrections! :relaxed:
We decided to play three games, as follows:
Anniversary
Played 1942 set up with no bid.
Axis – Andrew / h0lym0nk
Allies – Mark / Credulous (UK & Russia) and Leo / wittmann (US & China)
Thanks to Leo for letting me have some notes on which to base this report.
Throughout the game, dice was the decider. Andrew admitted the Allies had had terrible luck and he only good luck.
Japan attacked Pearl and won convincingly, moving towards India with the other half of its fleet. Built 2 TTs to augment its starting one. The US could only counter by moving to Hawaii. It would build a CV and Fts every turn, going all Pacific. The Solomons were taken on US2, for a US NO. Nevertheless, Japan was ahead in income, capturing India J2, after it was abandoned by the UK. Japan soon making 60 income, even after the loss of the DEI, only losing a NO on turn 6. The Japanese assault on the ME and threat to East Africa kept the UK player on his toes. The SA factory was built on turn 3 and helped keep Cairo switching hands until turn 5.
At one point J left one of its fleets dangling and the US pounced on it with very good odds. In round 1, Japan got 7/9 hits, and the US won with 4 only units spare. Those darn dice again!
The war was won in Europe though. Russia held Germany at bay, until a disastrous R6 saw Russia lose three battles, with heavy losses. Moscow fell on I6, after Germany had weakened it. Japan was in the Caucasus by then.
The UK took France and 11 income 3 times , but Italy always retook it before the US could get the NO. (Remember there were no US European purchases.) The UK did lose 9 units to a German air attack on G3, but rebuilt.
Italy’s fleet lasted until the US attacked on turn 4, hoping to weaken it, so the UK could follow up. All 6 units were eliminated in 2 rounds. Until then the Italians had stayed safely in the Eastern Med, continuously harassing Cairo and Trans Jordan. However, Gib was held by the Allies for the whole game. The funniest moment was a German Sub attack on a US Gib landed TT and DD. Both players rolled 14 times, before the Sub sank the 2 US ships!
Only 2 SBRs were attempted, both on Berlin by the US and causing 7 damage.
A last ditch 9 vs 10 units on Berlin was attempted by the UK. It failed as AA took out one of the 3 Air needed to have any chance of success, Mark got one hit from his remaining 8 units and Andrew killed 5 in return.
Well played Andrew.
1942.2
Played with no bid. Intercepts included.
Axis – Mike / Aftertaste (Germany) and Dale (Japan)
Allies – Jon (Russia & US) and Colin (UK)
Mike has kindly offered to add his battle report to this thread.
1914
No Russian Revolution. Two house rules – maximum build of 4 units in India and ground units able to move 2 spaces if both were friendly.
Central Powers – Adam / Private Panic
Entente – Steve (Russia, Italy & US) & Dave (UK & France)
I enjoyed this game tremendously, which I hope shines through as I write about it.
The Entente started the game poorly and never managed to recover the initiative. Germany was very lucky in its attack on the UK fleet, losing just 2 subs. Later in the game Italy attacked the Austrian fleet, losing all its warships while inflicting no losses. Similarly, the Russian Black Sea fleet took on Turkey’s equally strong fleet there, losing both cruisers while failing to sink any Turkish ones. So far, so lucky for the CP’s, but the war is not won at sea!
Austria and Germany sent sufficient forces west to hold off the Entente, while committing everything that it could to taking Russia out of the war. Forward offense by R allowed G and A to eliminate a significant part of the R military machine whilst advancing on Moscow, which fell on A5.
In the meantime, A had struggled in Serbia, needing Turkish support for it to be finally captured in T4. But A did take Venice in A1, and unexpectedly found itself able to advance on Rome, which it captured on A5.
Meanwhile T had inflicted a heavy defeat on the UK in Syria, allowing it to capture Egypt and achieve an income on a par with the UK. G had also eliminated UK forces in Africa, contributing to the UK’s loss of income.
Despite losing 2 capitals in turn 5, the Entente struggled on.
Combined F, UK and US forces did begin to make headway against G’s western front, but without inflicting any defeats on G, which always retreated when it needed to. Despite gaining the Ruhr in F7, CP income far surpassed Entente income.
In the meantime, A consolidated a considerable force in Piedmont ready to pounce on southern France, with no Entente forces between it and Paris. Turkey had attacked India, with the UK’s remaining 3 units greatly outnumbered there. It had also begun to build navy, threatening the Entente’s dominance of the Med, aided by the CP’s having gained control of the Rome minefield. G’s retreats on to its reinforcements grew the forces it could bring to bear, while allied advances meant that they outstripped their reinforcements.
The game was declared a CP victory. Steve and Dave were a joy to play against, accepting every bad dice roll with good humour and grace.
