39 game

[norseman]

Okay, my first time playing the advanced edition starting in 39. I will keep up a running update as each turn is played. Players are myself playing the axis and my two two brothers playing the allies. I have about 7 games of the first struggle experience as does one of my brothers. I don't have the rules completely down yet but just couldn't wait to start this game. Will learn as I go and will try to post some pictures later.
Firstly, the aesthetics of the game are fantastic. Best WW2 map I've ever seen and the counters add a lot. I also, so far, really like the changes to the movement phase with initiative and chit draws-I feel that this will have an enormous effect on the russian theatre.

turn 1
germany crushes poland with minimal casualties, redeploys major forces towards the west, and takes out denmark in its spare time. u-boats and raiders deal 13 damage to britain. russia cleans up eastern europe and deploys forces to leningrad. britain and france deploy destroyers against u-boats but fail to kill them.

turn 2
germany defeats all of belgium and the netherlands. interestingly enough the latter inflicts almost as many casualties on germany as poland and belgium combined. guderian and rundstedt are poised to attack france. another 9 economic damage inflicted on britain but commander luth's sub is tragically sunk by british destroyers in the north atlantic. germany also invades the undefended western coast of norway. The british oppose the norway invasion and send a fleet to attack but heavy german aa shoots down the swordfish and returns the bomber. both sides retire from battle with a damaged cruiser and the norwegian invasion continues. britain also decides to reinforce france. egypt is relatively undefended but italy is occupied by building up against france. russia wins the winter war with few casualties.

turn 3
germany defeats the french in champaigne and dijon, given the initiative, next turn rundstedt will pin paris while guderian forces the french surrender with further southern attacks. the british again reinforce picardy while the french draw most of their forces back to paris and send a few others to hold the southern territories. italy attempts to assist her german ally but fails miserably, losing 6 infantry in her attack to france's 2. further attacks are made in norway which is reinforced by germany, and ignored by britain, and prien attacks the british.

[norseman]

turn 4
france surrenders as guderian takes two more southern territories. Most of the french fleet goes vichy but the algerie cruiser group joins admiral somerville at Gibraltar. commander prien is defeated in the central atlantic leaving kretschmer as the only remaining sub-ace. petsamo is conquered by the I fallschirmjager corps. Russia continues to build up and has met its border requirements. much of the bef is redeployed to gibraltar on their way to egypt. several indian infantry are also sent to cairo.

[John D.]

OK - sounds like things are moving along nicely. Norway can be really tough to take. the Med battles are really easy to get sucked into as axis. Get ready for Russia!

[norseman]

turn 5
germany occupies france and redeploys large forces to eastern europe preparing for the invasions of greece and yugoslavia. rommel is in africa but the combined axis forces are greatly outnumbered by the british, canadian, and indian forces - italy is greatly hampered by her lack of transports. germany is building up the u-boat fleet but keeping them safely in the baltic until a few more are built. not much else going on.

[DeathMachine]

John and I are playing a game at the same time, so next time you are playing remember that there is another axis player out there(me) that may be sharing your joys or feeling your pain.

[norseman]

not too much pain so far although russia is looking very intimidating.
turn 6
Yugoslavia is easily conquered by germany and her balkan allies and greece is prepared to fall next turn. it looks like russia might happen a turn late so germany still has time to conquer greece and then redeploy against russia. The first naval battles in the med occurs but almost everything misses and the italians retreat with a damaged cruised. Italy is well positioned to counterattack next turn with superior airpower. Britain continues to reinforce africa but no major battles have taken place yet as british units are still moving towards their starting lines. In the west the blitz is on and britain takes 13 points of economic damage. so far britains fighter force is minimal with one spit, hurricane, and mosquito apiece.

[norseman]

turn 7
a ton of stuff going on this turn. germany finished off greece taking 0 casualties and is almost finished setting up for barbarossa. russia has withdrawn all units except the border requirements from the front. it has major defenses in the south centered on Kiev and a large army in minsk. all of the axis minor production has gone into romania and hungary which have decent sized armies in the south. The italians and germans are retreating in africa where they are outnumbered roughly 4 to 1 in ground units and britain redeployed nearly all available ships to the med in an effort to decisively destroy the italian fleet. this left the home fleet vulnerable and raeder launched a daring attack supported by 8 me109's and 2 bombers. the british airforce was game but overmatched. they lost 2 hurricanes, a spit, a mosquito, the rodney and a destroyer in exchange for damaging the scharnhorst and killing 2 me109's. the only good news for the home fleet is germanys need to send their airforce east. italy counterattacked the british med fleet and damaged the queen elizabeth while shooting down a gladiator and swordfish. they lost a bomber and fiatt but germany has sent them 2 me110's and a bomber so the axis maintains air superiority in the med. the british airforce is nonexistent but they have several fighters coming out next turn. coming soon, a showdown between the italian and british fleet in the med and germanys finishing touches preparing for barbarossa.

[norseman]

iraq and syria also joined the axis. given the overwhelming odds in the med i don't think that they will be much help.

[norseman]

turn 8
still no russian attack but lot of other things going on. the main italian fleet under lachino gets a bad initiative draw (the italian way) and is pinned on the african coast by the combined forces of sommerville and cunningham. the littorio, a cruiser, and 3 destroyers are sunk. Even worse, a puny gladiator shot down both me110's!!! The prince of wales and a destroyer were sunk in return and the algerie cruiser damaged. the remnants of the italian fleet have retreated to a sicilian port. two transports managed to get through depositing 5 infantry in africa but I fear that the italian army is not long for this world. next turn should see decisive battles at tobruk and benghazi. germany has finished preparing for barbarossa and the russians, in awe of the german might, are keeping the bulk of their forces a ways back of the front line. the german fleet retreated back to the baltic and placed the bismarck! additionally 5 u-boats have been deployed in the atlantic. next turn will be rough for britain.

[norseman]

turn 9
terrible things happening to the allies. barbarossa is an utter disaster for the russians. the axis advance on all fronts dealing extremely heavy casualties and taking few themselves. the only russian front line units to survive are surrounded in bialystock. 4 russian fighters are downed and the german stukas deal a heavy toll on the russian artillery and tanks. in the south the main russian army is threatened with encirclement and leningrad is also at risk after the collapse of the vyborg front. the british and commonwealth crush the main axis army in africa, rommel will be evacuated next turn. iraq and syria are conquered by britain ending germanys hope of middle eastern oil. much of the british med fleet is sent back to the atlantic where the uboats deal 15 damage to britain, one sub is sunk by hunter-killer attacks.

[norseman]

turn 10
mixed turn in the east. Germany stays aggressive even in winter: Hoepner attacks a major russian army in smolensk but his front line units are wiped out including several tanks. the winter penalty created big problems. leeb advanced in the north but was driven back by the russian winter counter offensive. in the south things went better. guderian spent his last months on the job crushing the russian line at kiev: 8 casualties inflicted round 1 with only 2 against germany. airpower has been huge for germany. the stukas in particular are wreaking havoc   russia has hardly any artillery left creating a bit of a disadvantage as germany has at least two or three artillery in every frontline territory. German also finished off the out of supply russian army at bialystock. In the med britain is paying for its of foresight. despite having the troops, planes, and navy to invade italy it has no landing craft! there are 3 in gibraltar but that probably wont be enough. meanwhile italy is content to fortify and set its defenses. they will probably manage to survive another 3 or 4 turns. In the atlantic britain's massive navy manages to hunt down 2 subs but the remainder deal 11 damage to convoys.

[norseman]

lack of foresight*

[Mark]

Sounds like a really interesting game and going pretty well for the first time you guys have played it.

It sounds like your first playtest is going in the Allies favor while Darkman's seems to be trending Axis - I guess that is a good sign.

I am really interested in hearing how things play out - keep posting!

thanks,
Mark

[norseman]

spring 1942-summer 1943
camera isn't working so my storytelling skills will have to do.
the east:
Germany has driven deep into russia and established a line in vyborg, pskov, Velikiye Luki, smolensk, orel, kursk, stalino, mariupol, and the crimea. things have been changing pretty rapidly on the eastern front. after hoepner bounced off smolensk, manstein came in and saved the day breaking through on the next turn. by winter 42 the germans had pushed into lagoda, kalinin, and rhzev. the successes in the north were tempered by failure in the south. In summer 42 germany crossed the dnieper at perekop and transferred their best offensive units there on the noncombat phase. unfortunately due to poor initiative draws, they have been bottled up there until the summer of 43 when they took mariupol. again success was due to manstein who brought an army from the center, crushed kharkov and stalino in the spring and inflicted some heavy casualties on rostov in the summer before retreating in strength to stalino. thanks to some efficient use of airbase attacks with fock-wulfs, germany still retains fighter superiority (barely) allowing the stukas to inflict much pain. germany has also been bombing russia to the tune of 10-15 ipcs for the last 4 turns or so. the russian line is thin but the balance of forces is shifting rapidly as the western allies apply pressure and kick lend lease up a notch. for the last two turns the only reinforcements the ostheer have received have been in the form of finns, rumanians, and hungarians.

the med:
britain, america, and the commonwealth landed a small force in italy in august 42, choosing the soft defenses of taranto over the hardened defenses of sicily and naples. they reinforced heavily in winter and then defeated both sicily and naples in spring to force the italian surrender. unfortunately for the allies, paulus and list head a formidable defense in the north, centered on rome, that may prove too much for montgomery. the allies are heavy in artillery and a little light in infantry.

the west:
all the subs have been eliminated thanks to a strong hunter-killer effort by britain. america and britain have been bombing germany for a few turns but because of the heavy aa presence in germany proper have been content to nibble around the edges. they suffered a major setback when a major fighter+bomber force attacked the kriegsmarine in port. aa fire took down two heavies + one regular bomber and another three fighters out of eight aircraft total!!! This setback however did not prevent the western allies from landing in brittany in spring. the low countries were well fortified but germany simply didn't have the manpower to do an adequate job along the whole coast. they then got a good initiative roll in the summer and pushed rundstedt out of paris, killing two jagdpanthers, and at-gun and several infantry. the allies also aggressively landed in denmark  but the remnants of the german fleet have cut them out of supply and they look to be in for a rough autumn.

the axis have 23 vp right now and don't stand to lose more than one or two a turn for the next few turns and they may take rostov so things appear somewhat stable for the next few turns. the axis may have to go down to the end to win. as the german player i am feeling the manpower crunch but so far i love everything about this game, best 300 bucks i ever spent

[norseman]

autumn 1943
west:
the allies took some more french territories including marseille, but fail to inflict any casualties as the germans pull back to set up their main defense along the rhine. roughly 15 ipc of strategic bombing is inflicted. germany attacks the allied bridgehead in denmark and wins handily. In italy the allies bypass rome but manage to cut it out of supply setting up a dangerous winter as the allies may be able to push the axis below the minimum vp threshold.
east: germany continues to hold the initiative and takes rostov with heavy casualties to both sides, with winter coming up they may be able to hold it for a turn. germany also repulses a heavy soviet assault on stalino. the ostheer is rapidly being ground down, nearly all their tanks have been destroyed and much of their artillery has been destroyed by sturmovicks.. the soviets have been maxing fighters and sturmovicks and as of the place builds phase they finally gained air superiority, this is a big blow to germany as their stukas are pretty much the only thing keeping them in the fight. what germany does have in russia is time. russia has only a few tanks and without using the mechanized phase will be hard-pressed to take poland and romania by the time the game ends.