August game in Franconia

[John D.]

Soviet fort line - great defense! - Mark didn't you do something like that during the last game?

Yes - 2 games for sure! I am still reeling from the last crushing defeat!

[Yoper]

Yeah, I moved from Prague to China!  But am looking forward to being hope in December - TWO games John - you hear me? 

Mark

I am usually "despair" for the holidays, but to each his own.

[Darkman]

Intresting Mark . we didn't play like that but after we played the second time.. we thought the same.. It's really a fulltime job to play the eastern front , and the italian player is bored because he waits so long.
But it will make the game harder for the axis.. two people , two different strategies.. that didn'T work quite well in history :p
We played 3 more turns.. then the day was over )  Very time consuming. We will do it next time , like you.. thanks! Any more hints to speed up the game turns ?

Will post some pictures soon.

Germany did some respectful damage to great britain.. (1 light carrier sunk by submarine attack) and GB lost a lot planes in england and mediterrain. All new GB production goes to airforce at the moment.(4 fighters)

4 question came up this time..the rules don't say something about it.
 
1. Does a Port attack last only one round like airbase bombing ? And if how is retreating working for the navy. To the open Sea or another sea zone or does it last only one round and no retreat is possible?
2. Does Submarine Interdiction also work on ships moving into the sea zone or out.. or only ships that move through that sea zone?
3. When a submarine attacks a carrier in sub movement. and there is no destroyer present. What happens with the plane if the carrier is sinking.. In the old game there was a first strike ability for submarines.
    Logically the plane would have no chance to react and rescue his plane / planes.. he could'nt know that a submarine is attacking.. ? I would understand that he can rescue his plane if there is a real naval   
    battle or a asw roll.. but not if there is no asw roll.
4. What happens with the neutral greece income for the allies if there is no supply route to a GB zone.? is it lost?


Italy and Britain had some nice sea battles but both only damaged ships from the other side. Rommel landed in africa and the axis are marching to alexandria. Gb is moving many troops to africa and many medium bombers.

On the russian front i would say all is fine for the axis. It was a great start of a eastern campaign in my opinion. The soviet union forces were overrun with only minimal casualties.  35 infantry divisions and 3 fighters were killed.(Soviet player didn'T want to lose any armor so he switched them with only inf on the frontline)  Germany lost 2-3 inf divisions and 2 panzergrenadiers. Soviet player still says it all going like he planned. I feel mighty , but i know how fast it can turn the tables on the eastern front.
Murmansk is out of supply and Archangel was captured by german paratroopers.

It is now Autumn 1941 and guderian is in smolensk with a mighty panzer divison. Other troops are waiting for the infantry. Fearing a Counteroffensive of the soviets. Estonia and Vitebsk were alreads captured but germany retreated back and waiting for reinforcements, before the soviets strike back. In the south everything works fine. German forces standing next to Kharkov and the soviets only have 3 divisions in the south.

At the moment if feels like .." with some morer pressure i can beat the soviets totally"
But we all know the winter is coming and soviets get some nice winterized troops. I don't like moving into traps :-)
There are only two options.. a massive attack on moscow or divding forces and capturing as many as we can... the okw still thinks about it

[Mark]

Hi Darkman - great summary

I think it is a fun aspect of the game that players have to work together to execute their strategy. The German player can tell the Western Front / Italian player what he would like to do, but it is up to the theatre commander to execute the plan.  It adds a bit of a role-playing element to the game.

Once you align the Western and Eastern Front players, they can each draw their movement chits at their own pace which will help move things along.  The other thing we sometimes do is that if one front gets done before the other, the players can help resolve the battles on the remaining front.  For example, if the Western front finishes up movement and combat before it is completed on the Russian front, they culd help the Eastern front players resolved some of their combats.

With respect to the rules questions below:
1.) Port attacks can last multiple rounds.  If the ships want to retreat, they retreat into the sea zone the port is in (out of the port, into the open sea zone) and combat is over.  If enemy ships are present in the sea zone, it triggers another combat.

2.) Submarines may initiate interdiction combat when ships leave, enter or move through their sea zone.

3.) On page 12 - if a transport or carrier is sunk by a sub, all the units or planes on the carrier/transport are eliminated as well.

4.) If there is no open line of supply from Greece to the Western Allies, then the Western Allies cannot collect the sympathetic extra income from Greece. 

Thanks for pointing these questions out - i will add the clarifications to the rules.

Sounds like the Eastern front is playing out pretty well so far.  Both sides sound like they are playing a little conservative   What is Soviet income level like?  Did they build a lot of additional factories before the war?  Are they moving their factories out of harms way?  Sounds like to you sealed off the Murmansk convoy route - is the U.S. giving them PP via the Eastern or Persian convoy routes?

Looking forward to the next round of pics!

mark

[Mark]

We made a house rule , that ships can be repaired only in fortified harbors. It need to be in supply to a homeland.. but for example , germany can also repair their ships in france harbors and so on.
Newly built ships can be placed in homeland harbors aswell. Makes sense to me.
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A second rule i would love to see is that historically , finnland , romania and bulgaria  switched sides once liberated, and fought against the germans. We don't have this

Hi Darkman - I like the rule regarding repairing ships in supplied fortified harbors - I think we'll incorporate that in the next revision of the rules.

As far as some of the minor Allies switching sides, I am not sure if it is necessary.  I think their role on the Allies side late in the war was pretty negligible and by this point in the game (mid-44), a couple of additional minor infantry are not going to make much of a difference.  If you think about it abstractly, the 3 PP the Soviets gain from occupying Romania enables them to build an additional 2-3 infantry unit - which you could consider as a Romanian unit,  for example.

[Darkman]

Yeah the Bismarck tried to reach a france harbor for repair we all know it failed -)
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it's not only the axis minors.. once vichy collapesed didn't morocco and algiers switched side and troops fought against axis  while tunisia stayed axis (axis troops arrived there, i think thats why)

[Darkman]

More pictures as promised
Begin winter 40/41

[Darkman]

more begin winter 40/41

[Darkman]

Spring 41

[Darkman]

Begin Summer 41

[Darkman]

Begin Summer 41

[Darkman]

Begin Summer 1941

[Darkman]

Begin Summer 1941

[Darkman]

The fight... =)

[Darkman]

Begin Autumn 41