Well, we had another interesting game last night. I was the Axis, Peter and Jason were the Allies.
The game started rather ominously for the Axis, losing a total of 9 infantry on the first turn’s attacks. The next turn I redeployed, and on turn three I took out Belgium. Up to this point everything was going fairly normal; unfortunately for me, things started to get weird from here.
In Jason’s redeployments for the Soviets in Winter 1939-40, he left only two units on the Turkish border. Per the rules, we rolled, and Turkey entered the Axis. Great, you think.
Actually, not so much. It set into motion the events that virtually guarantee that I will lose in the next turn or two when we resume play next week.
Because I had not yet taken out France, Turkey was immediately out of supply. England immediately pounced on them with the troops they had deployed to North Africa, and deployed most of their navy to the Med, daring the Italians to declare war. I took France out on the Summer 1940 turn, and pulled back in Turkey to Istanbul, and England took the remainder of Turkey.
Hungary, Romania, Finland, and Bulgaria came into the Axis at the end of Fall 1940 (the turn after the fall of France), but since supply determination comes after “Check for Axis Minor Allies” the Turkish troops were still out of supply. Britain built a level three airbase in Turkey, and took Istanbul. I retreated 2 surviving infantry and 2 artillery into Bulgaria.
I noticed that Peter was sending almost everything he had as Britain down there to threaten me from the south. As all of this was unfolding I started to build some transports. In winter 1940-41, I made an amphibious assault into London, and took it without taking a single casualty. As a result, Sweden rolled into the Axis.
The problem here is that with Turkey’s early entry, the Soviets hit Tension Level one. On the turn I took London, he also placed his first medium armor and fighter, so he drew nine cards that turn (first medium armor, first fighter, normal card draw for each turn, card draw for border requirements, Sweden joining Axis, Germany taking London). Spring of 1941 he was able to declare war on Germany.
Things went downhill pretty fast after that. As things stand right now (I think we’re going into the Allied half of the Summer 1941 turn), Germany has taken all of England. Russia is on the border of Germany and most likely will be in Germany at the end of his turn. England still has quite a bit in the Med directly threatening Turkey, so I have to keep some stuff there to protect the southern flank. I think Germany will be out by the end of the year.
I’m not complaining about losing. The biggest reason I’m losing is because of my invasion of England, which I know better than to do (though I do want it noted for the record that I did COMPLETELY conquer the British Isles…).
The issue I have here is the situation with Turkey. What should be a positive thing (Turkey joining the Axis) rapidly became an albatross around my neck, as the Turks basically became cannon fodder for the British; on top of that I had to commit forces to attacking the British there to protect my southern flank. After seeing all of this, Jason said something to the effect that because Turkey is out of supply if they come into the Axis before France falls that he thinks he will start attacking Turkey as the Soviets every game so as to eliminate them as a threat. This won’t be all that difficult, since with Turkey being out of supply they won’t be able to stand up to the Soviets more than a turn or two.
I think the issue of minor countries and supply needs to be revisited. John commented in September that this would be addressed in the next rules update – but that was almost 9 months ago. Is there any progress on this – or was he referring to the next version of the game?
I’m not sure what the answer to this is. While I like the idea of saying a minor country is in supply within its own territory, this does directly contradict the supply rules. This won’t normally be a problem since minor countries that are attacked generally end up being taken out the same turn they’re attacked (before they would check for supply). For Turkey, I would suggest perhaps saying that they could trace supply through Bulgaria/Romania/Hungary before those countries join the Axis, since those countries were obviously pro-Axis before they officially joined. A bit of a rules fudge, but one that’s easier to implement than making wholesale changes to how supply works.
As to the Soviets attacking Turkey right from the get-go – maybe this should be a negative card draw for the Soviets and/or the US.
Also, last night’s game generated a few rules questions (as usual).
Since minor countries have to trace supply to the Western Allies to be in supply, does this mean that the Polish forces in Eastern Poland would be out of supply in the Allied half of the first turn?
As Germany, I completely surrounded England so that England had no connection to the rest of their empire. If England can’t re-establish supply would this mean that they could only build in the home isles whatever points they still hold there and the remainder would have to be built in Canada?
When Turkey became England’s punching bag, Peter used the French infantry in Syria as part of his attacking force. When France fell, this infantry was in Turkey. We removed this infantry from the board, and since there was a British infantry in Syria we said that this territory was not Vichy, but became British. Was this correct?
Your thoughts, comments, ideas, threats, etc. are welcome,
Bob
