November 2013 Game in CT

[Mark]

Well, no Patriots game last weekend - so we spent two days playing a 1939 Struggle for Europe game!  We played about 16 turns and got to near the end of the Summer 1943 turn.  The Allies have done their non-combat move, but the Axis still need to do their non-combat move and we will be ready for Autumn 1943.

We plan to finish the game the weekend of December 7th!  I am the Allies along with Joe.  John and Craig are the Axis.

The game had a rough start for the Axis - Poland was very tough nut to crack with Polish units hitting on most of their defensive rolls and inflicting significant casualties on the German invaders.  The Axis shrugged off their losses and managed to take France out in the WINTER 1939-40 turn which made up for some of the Polish debacle!  Only John has managed to do this France in two turns maneuver. . .and he has done it twice now (If the movement chits fall just right and the Germans shift significant strength out of the gates to the Western Front, it is possible).

The British managed to deal with the battle of Atlantic fairly well.  Some lucky ASW rolls and the diversion of German production to make up the ir Polish losses rather than building a lot of u-boats helped.

There was some good back-and-forth in the Med with the British successfully defending Egypt and driving Rommel back in 1942.  The Allies invaded Algeria in Summer 1942 and were able to drive the Axis off the continent by the end of the year.

In Russia, Barbarossa was launched in Spring 1941.  As usual it was bloody for the Russians, but they were able to regroup and hold onto Leningrad and Moscow.  It actually played out close to historical lines in the Soviet Union for much of the game up until now.  Rather than a Stalingrad disaster however, instead of Paulus, it was Manstein that was surrounded with his army near Novgorod - we will call it the Demyansk pocket realized.  In Spring/Summer 1943, the Germans launched a last desperate offensive in the South and are driving on Stalingrad.  Simultaneously, the Soviets launched an offensive in the North, temporarily cutting off Model's army facing Leningrad and liberating Minsk.

Rather than invading a very well defended Italy in Spring 1943, the Allies redeployed and just launched a successful invasion of Normandy in Summer 1943 - led by Montgomery and Patton.  Kesselring is rallying the German defenses in France while the Germans rail reinforcements to the West. . .

Here are some pics as things stand near the end of Summer 1943:

[Mark]

Here are the Summer 1943 pics from the Western Front.  Spain is not in the war - we just put units being strategically redeployed there - the German units there will be placed on the board once they do their Summer 1943 non-combat movement phase.

[John D.]

Getting ready to continue playing! Very exciting moment to pick up from! The Axis rail is not very powerful but placement could land some advantages depending on how initiative draws follow. Western Allied air power is quickly out producing German so I'm soon going to need to rely on AA guns for defense. Patton is problematic to stop - even if attacked first - he will just declare a counter offensive and, with 2 offensive re-rolls, should be able to break a 6 unit front line fairly easily. Russia's armor is temporarily exposed and Stalingrad is a potential target but the German fort line south of Leningrad will be out of supply and easily destroyable.
Italy is not threatened at the moment but that should change in 2 turns...

[Mark]

We wrapped up the game on Saturday - another nail biter that ended on the last turn: Summer 1945.  We are really happy now that two games in a row have gone all the way to the last turn of the game to determine a winner.

The last 8-9 turns were a roller-coaster.  The Germans invested HEAVILY on the Eastern front - they took Stalingrad and drove East of the Volga - even threatening Astrakhan and even getting recon units within site of the Urals (with paratroopers actually getting to the Urals).  In the South, the Crimea changed hands a few times, with the Russians retaking it in Autumn 1943 only to lose it to the Germans in early 44 - but finally retaking it again in Spring 1945.  The Soviets did not take Stalingrad back until Summer 1944, when a massive pincer action launched from Rostov and Tula threatened to encircle the entire German Army Group South.  Despite the significant territorial gains the Germans made in Russia in late 1943, the Russians were able to rally once German reinforcements began to get redirected to the West.  By the end of the game, the Soviets had taken out Romania, Hungary, Warsaw and advanced within sight of Berlin.

In the West, the Allies expanded their beachhead in Normandy and took Paris in Spring 1944 - pushing the Germans out of most of France by the end of 1944.  The Americans, under Patton, invaded Naples and Southern Italy in the Winter of 1943, and advanced rapidly on Rome in the Spring of 1944.  Patton was repulsed by tough German and Italian resistance in the Summer of 1944, but finally took Rome in the Autumn.  In the Winter, a combined offensive by Bradley out of Southern France and Patton from Rome cleared the rest of Northern Italy.

Spring 1945 had the German defending the Alps in the South, Alsace-Lorraine, Belgium and Holland in the West, and a line running from Warsaw down to Budapest in the East.  Norway was still in Axis hands.  Patton blasted through the Alps in the spring and took Bavaria.  Montgomery took Alsace-Lorraine and the Russians took Warsaw - Things looked grim for the Axis. . .collapsing everywhere.  At the end of Spring 1945, they held Oslo(1), Berlin(3), the Ruhr(1), Warsaw (1) and Budapest(1) - for 7 victory points.  They could lose only two VPs and still win the game. Massive Soviet armies were bearing down on Warsaw and Budapest, a huge American Army under Patton was driving North out of Bavaria, and a third British army had taken Flanders and Holland and was poised to strike into Germany from the West. . .the situation looked hopeless. . .

But, a German miracle took place (Allied overconfidence contributed to the miracle).  While the Soviets took Warsaw and Budapest, Patton was attacked and forced to retreat back into Bavaria.  An Allied invasion of Norway failed and the  British failed in their mech attack of the Ruhr.  The Germans won the game by the narrowest of margins - holding 5 VPs (Berlin, Ruhr and Oslo).

It was a great game and we are all looking forward now for the next one!

Sorry no pics!  Next time 

[John D.]

So great that the end game is literally going the distance! It makes for an epic journey! Really enjoy the time table mechanic of the game - we've learned that neither side can sit still or be caught off guard... It can easily spin into a scenario too difficult to bounce back from - forcing one side or another to make attacks that normally would not be made... fun stuff!