WIFCON 2007, Lansing,
Michigan
Table 1
Seeking Group Picture
Pictures
M/J '42 Imminent Invasion: After building up through the winter, the CW prepares to land on the continent once more.
M/J '42 Japanese High Water Mark: Japanese at it's maximum extent in China.
M/J '42 Backhand Blow... In Reverse: Guderian is blown off the map by a Russian offensive west of the Dnepr.
J/A '42 Crisis in the East: At the end of J/A the Germans have almost completely withdrawn from Russia, note the almost complete absence of troops in the center.
S/O '42 Invasion of Portugal: The CW prepares it's major landing in the north of Portugal.
M/A '43 Rabaul Dogfight: US Marines and Japanese reinforcements struggle for control of New Britain. Soon the Aussies will arrive to save the day!
J/A '43 Trench Warfare: The Soviets beat upon the German line which just one year before had seemed almost non-existent.
J/A '43 In the Footsteps of Wellington: Madrid and Gibraltar are threatened with liberation as the Germans high-tail it.
S/O '44 China Flexes: China's counteroffensive operations secure Hanoi and Sian.
M/A '45 Barbarians at the Gates: Soviet forces reach the outskirts of Berlin as the western Allies shred the Seine defences.
M/J '45 All but Over: The writing is on the wall now as the German defence loses cohesion.
J/A '45 The Fall of Finland: The Allies invade the new German home country from all directions.
Game Report
Axis
Germany: Bill Duncan
Japan/Italy: Tom Beadle
Allies
USA: Ken Clark
CW: Paul Rae
USSR: Steve Balk
NOTE: This game report tends to be very Western Allies/Europe biased
since that's where I spent most of my time. Pacific map colour provided by Ken
and Tom.
1939
S/O:
Germany declares war on Poland, quickly rolling up the Polish defences and
shooting down the Polish air force in flames. Lodz falls at the cost of a German
infantry corps, but Warsaw hangs tough as the weather worsens. Britain and
France declare war on Germany, and Britain's Force H consisting of 4 carriers
and 3 battleships sorties to the Western Mediterranean, soon followed by Britain
and France declaring war on Italy. A surprise port strike on the Italian Navy
sinks half of Italy's transport shipping, and sinks or damages several other
major combat units. The four speed three range Italian transport was sailed out
of port away from the Allied fleet, as a result this unit was spared from the
port strike. British troops invade Sardinia, taking the capital of Cagliari,
while French take the northern port. Italy takes out French Somaliland, gaining
a Vichy chit. The Lybian camel corps advance into Tunis is blocked by a British
Infantry Corps.
Warsaw falls to the Axis and the German army redeploys west. British troops go
to France in increasing numbers, led by Gort and Wavell. Italy lands an infantry
division in Sardinia to annoy the Allies, but it is hemmed in by French and
British troops. Germany begins work on the half-completed Graf Zeppelin.
N/D:
Denmark falls to a lightning German assault. Britain continues to threaten port
strikes on the Italian fleet, moving Force H to the Italian coast while the
battlewagons patrol the Western Mediteranean. The Italian navy sorties under an
ineffectual umbrella of naval air and engages the British battleships only to
take heavy losses once again. Only 6 combat ships remain operational in the
Italian Navy.
Noticing that the British transports are otherwise occupied, Germany invades
Netherlands in uncommonly fair weather, conquering the country in short order.
1940
J/F:
British forces in Sardinia finish off the Italians which rashly landed there.
Little activity occurs and the US elects to rebase the fleet to Pearl Harbour.
A conservative Chinese setup gives up Sian and several other Chinese cities
without a fight, as well as the southern resources. The Japanese make some
progress in the south, taking Kwei-Yang, but for the most part the front remains
quite static for most of the game, punctuated by the occasional Japanese assault
and frequent strategic bombing.
M/A:
In fair weather Germany storms into Belgium, taking Antwerp and Liege and
isolating Brussels. The Anglo-French armies advance into Belgium to meet the
Germans, anchoring their line on the Ardennes. Germany attacks the allied line,
pushing them back into France, but follow up attacks on both British and French
sectors both stall badly with several losses. Italy attacks into southern France
with a risky but successful attack through the alpine passes lead by Graziani
(Allies call blitz, Graziani would have been the mandatory loss).
M/J:
Germany throws an o-chit on Rundstedt and punches a hole in the French line,
pushing closer to Paris. The BEF starts to withdraw, abandoning a mech corps and
an artillery flipped in Belgium and heading for the channel ports. French troops
move to hamper the Axis advance and Paris prepares for a siege as Italian troops
ooze into southern France. The Allies commit to defending Paris to the last, and
refuse to contemplate declaring the city open.
J/A:
The German army systematically destroys the French army while the BEF completes
its evacuation in good order. By the end of the turn the Germans have invested
Paris, while the Italians get as far as Toulouse and Bordeaux and surround
Marseilles. British troops occupy Tunis, Algeirs, and Rabat in preparation for
the inevitable French collapse, but the turn ends fortuitously before Paris can
be taken.
S/O:
Paris falls in short order and France negotiates peace. Throughout the rest of
the turn German forces roll, unimpeded, south towards the Pyrenees. Bad weather
sets in as the German Army reaches the Spanish border. The French Navy engages
the remains of the Italian navy, now reinforced by two Roma-class battleships.
Heavy and repeated actions ensue, seeing several ships on both sides sunk, The
Italian navy has practically ceased to exist, with the Roma damaged and all but
three heavy cruisers sunk.
Level 4 Vichy France is established with the Italian taking the rump. North
Africa and Syria stay Vichy, Senegal, declared the new French home country, and
much of Africa goes free, along with Indochina and the Asian/Pacific minors.
USA Gears up.
N/D:
British troops build up in England in preparation for Germany's next move. The
Kriegsmarine sorties inconclusively to the Faeroes Gap and then rebases to
Bordeaux.
1941
J/F:
The Kriegsmarine comes out again to raid the convoy lines but is instead found
by the main strength of the British fleet. The Graf Zeppelin is sunk along with
the Scharnhorst and several cruisers. Only 4 German ships make it back to port
in good shape, while British losses are trifling.
Italian subs ravage the Cape St. Vincent convoy lines forcing a late turn convoy
reorganization that costs considerable CW production, but similarly represents
the zenith of anaemic Axis efforts to sink allied convoys. Few new subs have
been built and no more are due to arrive, from this point on Axis sub strength
dwindles to negligibility.
An unfortunate footnote to the turns action, the Queens were intercepted by
Italian subs in Cape St. Vincent and sunk with a motorized corp aboard. It is
the most significant naval loss the CW has yet suffered.
M/A:
With bad weather in Europe further delaying the Axis hordes at the Spanish
border, the British navy air arm and Axis naval air battle it out in the Western
Med resulting in much of British carrier air power being shot from the sky and
one carrier damaged. The British Navy perseveres however, aborting the Axis
naval air, and although the carrier fleet is withdrawn to England at the end of
the turn, the British navy reigns supreme in the Western Med.
M/J:
Germany declares war on Spain, which aligns to CW. The Spanish army sets up
heavily on the border, with just a single garrison in Madrid and another
covering possible landing sites in Er Rif. British control of the Western Med
prevents Axis amphibious forces form landing in the rough terrain around
Tangiers, however the transports evade the British pickets and land several
small forces on the long Spanish Mediteranean coast. Cartagena and Almeira fall
as the Germans expend their 2nd o-chit to breach the Pyrenees defensive line.
Tactical air disorganizes Spanish defenders all along the line, but despite this
advantage the Spaniards manage to repulse the German attack in the central
Pyrenees passes, while the German advance on the Biscay coast proceeds with some
difficulty.
Commonwealth reinforcements rush to Er Rif and southern Spain, but as the German
army reorganizes and pushes forward it's clear the Spanish defence line is
irrevocably pierced. By the end of turn, Bilbao has fallen and the Pyrenees
defenders are mopped up. The Wehrmacht advances on Madrid in overwhelming force
as German marines enter Malaga, two hexes from Gibraltar. British Battleships
find the Italian transports at sea in the western Med and sink the Italian
amphib.
J/A:
CW reinforcements, all too few, only have time to execute a short delaying
action while slowly withdrawing through Gibraltar to Tangiers. Overwhelming
German air power rebases into southern Spain. Sardinia is evacuated as Er Rif is
reinforced. The remnants of the Kriegsmarine sorties into the bay of biscay,
sinking an empty CW amphib and damaging the Spanish transport.
Spain is conquered and the Italians gain a windfall in the form of the damaged
Spanish transport and several cruisers which are quickly repaired. At the end of
each turn the Italians have been demanding ships from Vichy, through the course
of the game two slow battleships will be taken and six convoy points. Two
battleships (the Richelieu and one older one will be scuttled by the French).
S/O:
In fine Mediterranean weather, air battles rage over Gibraltar as the Germans
send ground strikes to disorganize the rock's defenders. Marines in assault
boats cross under fire from the Costa del Sol and the sky blooms with German and
Italian paratroops. Gibraltar falls to a +7 assault, sealing the western end of
the Mediterranean. Commonwealth troops hold firm in Er Rif however. Axis troops
quickly overrun Portugal to complete their conquest of the Iberian peninsula.
Von Bock lands in Algeria as the Axis make a feint for Er Rif.
Japan declares war on CW. Captures Singapore, Batavia, Rabaul, and Hong Kong in
a land offensive after taking naval. Japanese marines land at Trincomalee in
Ceylon but a CW mechanized corps, the only available reserve in the area, is
rushed into Columbo, temporarily preventing Japanese conquest of Ceylon.
N/D:
Italian and German paratroops take Malta after the garrison is disorganized and
put out of supply. Italian divisions retake Sardinia. An Italian expeditionary
force presses eastward into poorly defended Egypt from Libya, Balbo, an
anti-tank gun and a mechanized corps have been on the Boarder with Egypt since
the initial setup phase. The German army redeploys its armoured forces eastward
from Spain towards the Russian border, leaving strong garrisons in Spain and
France.
The US passes up a 30% chance to DoW Japan in order to pass war appropriations
at turn end.
1942
J/F:
Axis win initiative, and Japan declares war on USA. On a supercombined impulse,
Japanese troops invade and captures Manilla, overrunning the US sub fleet,
killing 1 sub and capturing another (forcing 2 to rebase). Japan from this time
forward will never fail an attack on a red hex. Yamashita invades and captures
Pearl Harbour after flipping all three units in the hex (2x WP infantry,
3-factor AT gun) and rolling a 14 on a +8 attack. Two US carriers are sunk in
the overrun, along with a cruiser and a BB. One BB, the Arizona, is captured,
renamed the Arizona-son by the Japanese and becomes the flagship of the Japanese
Imperio-capitalist Navy. Later that turn, US marines based on the hex next to
Pearl with an infantry invasion + MacArthur based in Midway counter-attack Pearl
harbour on a +4 attack and fail (Reserve US marine was re-organized on the West
coast and brought in for the attack). The Marines (hex next to Pearl) and Nimitz
(based in Midway) remain pinned for the next year and a half, but also pin
invasion force to Pearl. Dutch Harbour and Pago Pago remain American for the
rest of the war. America successfully declares war on GE/Italy and goes to total
war.
Italy declares war on Greece and invades the west coast of that country, working
their way across the Peloponnesus towards Athens. Germany lines up on the border
of Russian East Poland, its intentions obvious. Von Bock returns to Europe from
North Africa. No attempt by the Axis to clear Er Rif will be forthcoming.
M/A:
Athens falls after the two units in the hex are flipped with the Italian stuka,
and the Italian and German paratroops drop one more time from the sky.
Subsequently, Yugoslavia aligns to Italy and Rumania aligns to Germany. In clear
weather, Germany declares war on the USSR, which has set up a strong defence on
the Dneiper in the south and around Vitebsk and the forest line in the North.
Germany chews up the speed bumps in Poland while the Rumanians clear Bessarabia.
Graziani rushes from Athens to join with Balbo to press on Cairo and Suez. An
American motorized corps and an Indian infantry corps arrives in Suez only to be
overrun by Italian tanks. Suez falls. Commonwealth troops invade Vichy Morocco,
Vichy France remains inactive. The Moroccan coastal ports are quickly captured
for future use as an Allied staging area.
Defence of Ceylon is taken over by the Free French MTN corp as the CW mechanized
corps is sent to Europe around the Cape of Good Hope. The US fast battleships
and carriers base in East Polynesia as the slow battleships, formed into Task
Force 58, steam to Europe.
M/J:
Commonwealth troops build up in Morocco and England. The port of Tangiers is
expanded with American help and more fighters are brought to the theatre to
counter Axis port strikes, which have damaged a couple of transports.
In the east, Stalin detects a weakness in the armoured spearheads approaching
the Dnieper and throws his o-chit on Zhukov. Russian armour rolls out from their
defensive positions, attacking the leading German columns, shattering Guderian
and putting the Germans on their back foot. The first Guard Banner armies are
nominated. Germany elects to retreat, pulling back over the course of the turn
to the Dneister and the Polish border.
Ceylon is cut out of supply and the black print French mountain corps is
flipped, Japan then takes Ceylon in a +14 attack with a roll of 11.
J/A:
Commonwealth troops invade and take Lisbon, while a 2nd landing south of Lisbon
is destroyed by a German counterattack. Over the course of the turn, the
invasion force in Lisbon is replaced by Wavell and mechanized forces, preparing
for a breakout.
Soviet troops assault the Dneister line, pressing the Germans hard. The German
front is badly stretched as holes start to appear. A huge gap yawns south of the
Pripets which the Germans struggle to fill.
S/O:
Commonwealth troops land in northern Portugal as Wavell breaks out of Lisbon,
accompanied by more seaborne invasions and naval gunfire. The Allied presence in
Portugal expands as troops move inland and more follow on corps land at Lisbon
and Porto. Americans join the CW troops in increasing numbers. The Axis are
barely able to contain the beachheads.
In Eastern Europe the weather goes bad, giving Germany a much needed respite
during which the major holes in the line are plugged.
The US Fleet, attempting to rebase to Perth, is caught in the 1-box in East
Polynesia by the Japanese fast carrier fleet. In the ensuing Battle of East
Polynesia, the US fleet manages to get 7 surprise points but excellent
air-to-air dice by the Japanese turn the battle into a US rout, with the loss of
2 carriers to no Japanese losses. Prior to the battle the US battleship North
Carolina intercepted the Japanese fleet with surprise points but due to
defective armour plating sank (failed two "D" results with 2 armour).
N/D:
The US carrier fleet rebases to the Atlantic to help with operations in Spain as
it waits to regain some strength. Allied troops expand the Porto beachhead in
bad weather, advancing on Ferrol and Vigo.
The East front starts to take on the characteristics of trench warfare. The
Soviets advance hex by hex against a stubbornly resisting enemy.
1943
J/F:
Ferrol is taken by the Allies and further reinforcements join the fray through
that port. A lone Hungarian corps defends Vigo. The Allies are operating in the
Western Med in strength again thanks to the port of Tangiers and Free French
troops advance to liberate Algeria.
Soviet troops push into Romania and fight hex by hex into Eastern Poland. In the
Pacific, Japanese forces seem to be massing for a possible invasion of
Australia, so the US carrier fleet departs the Atlantic. The Japanese
consolidate their gains.
M/A:
Vigo falls to the Allies as Wavell blitzes out of the Lisbon pocket in concert
with Allied paradrops and invasions in southern Spain. The Axis defenders in
Spain start to withdraw as the situation is beyond their ability to contain.
Western Allied air power is building steadily and starts to take its toll on the
Axis.
The US fleets' arrival in Australia forestalls any invasion attempt. With the US
fleet basing in Brisbane, increasing numbers of US troops arrive in Auckland.
The US marines are rescued from Hawaii and sent south to prepare for operations
there.
The Americans pick a strategic target and focuses on Rabaul, which the Japanese
player has lightly defended by a corps and a MTN div. The hex next to Rabaul is
taken by US marines who storm onto New Britain unopposed. Nimitz joins the
marines however they are all flipped due tot he terrain. The US fleet sorties
into the Coral Sea but is soundly thrashed by the Japanese fleet, losing 3 more
carriers sunk, as hot Japanese air dice make themselves felt once more. Cut out
of supply, Nimitz is killed by the Japanese counter-attack but the Marine unit
manages to retreat to New Guinea (Blitz is chosen by the defender with a poor
roll by the Japanese netting an "18" result). A mountain div now holds the west
portion of New Britain with Yamashita and one other corps holding Rabaul. A
subsequent counter-attack by the Australian infantry and garrison retakes the
hex, destroying the mountain div.
M/J:
Allied troops advance in Spain, killing disorganized corps left to their fate by
the retreating Germans. Allied paratroops are dropped north of Madrid in an
effort to hamper the Axis withdrawal. A Free French consisting of the Algerian
MTN corps and the Senegalese MIL land next to an undefended Barcelona, occupying
that city on a subsequent impulse, though flipped and out of supply. Allied
troops press on Cadiz in an effort to clear the approaches to Gibraltar for the
necessary ground assault.
With the weather shifting to storm in the South Monsoon zone, the US decides to
strategically redeploy to take Kwajelein or Pearl harbour and moves the fleet.
Suddenly, with a weather roll of "1", it is only rain in the South Monsoon zone.
The Brazilian fighter (of doom) ground strikes Rabaul on 2s and manages to flip
the entire hex. The Marines decide that now is their chance and in the rain,
with the assistance of the adjacent Australians, decide to attack. Luck favours
the ignorant as the attack is determined (even with full ground support) to be
only a +3 in the rain. A "19" is rolled (much to the consternation of the
Japanese player), killing Yamashita plus a corps and a gun, and the giddily
victorious Marines storm ashore.
J/A:
The Allies approach Madrid as Allied troops isolate Gibraltar. The paratroopers
are positioned ready to drop on the rock, but a short turn nips the plan in the
bud. It has been a miserable summer of rain and storms, which does much to
strengthen the German line. The Soviets launch a two pronged offensive vs German
army group center just west of the Pripets, their spearheads threatening to cut
off significant German forces. German counterattacks beat back the advancing
Russians however and the salient is evacuated, restoring cohesion on the front.
S/O:
Gibraltar is retaken in fine Meditarranean weather, airstrikes, paratroops,
naval blockade and gunfire making the assault almost trivial. French troops
enter Tunisia as the Axis troops in Spain are pressed back to the line of the
Pyrenees. An amphibious assault on Bilbao fails with heavy loss of life and the
access corridor of escape from Spain is kept just barely open. Madrid is
liberated as the Germans abandon its garrison to its inevitable fate.
The Germans pull back slowly towards the Vistula under constant Soviet pressure.
The Luftwaffe has been wildly successful against the Red air force, taking much
credit in allowing the Germans to withdraw in good order. Soviet troops battle
around the outskirts of Ploesti in Rumania.
N/D:
In remarkably good weather, Allied forces invade the south coast of France in
force, taking Toulon and the Riveria. Axis counterattacks do some damage but
overall the beachhead is quickly consolidated and expanded, the lone Italian
division defending Marseilles quickly dispatched. This new landing causes the
last Axis forces to evacuate Spain.
Konigsberg falls and Russian troops reach the Vistula. In the south, the Ploesti
oilfields in Romania fall and German resistance there starts to disintegrate.
Tom sweats over the map as Ken flexes manfully.
1944
J/F:
The British carrier fleet sorties to the Italian Coast, clearing it. The Allies
stage several landings, taking Sardinia and Corsica which are now out of supply.
Tunis falls and Free French forces advance south to Tripoli. Axis pressure
compresses the Marseilles beachhead a little, but there are bigger fish to fry.
Cagliari is expanded and becomes the new base for the slow battleships of TF-58.
Italy uses the captured Spanish transport to sail into the teeth of the British
carrier fleet and extract the Milan militia, which has been stranded in Malaga
since the recapture of Gibraltar, redeploying the unit for the defence of Italy.
Bucharest falls, Russian troops cross the Carpathians and enter Hungary while
the southern wing swings through Bulgaria and to the Yugoslav border.
M/A:
The Allies land in northern Italy, taking La Spezia by assault and landing south
of Venice on the Adriatic coast. Reinforcements to southern Italy are abruptly
cut off, only one German militia corps has made it south of the Po river, and
Italian strength in southern Italy is also quite weak. The turn ends before
German armoured reinforcements can counterattack the vulnerable Po river
landing.
Soviet troops cross the Vistula as the Germans fight for every inch of soil on
the central front.
Basing from Rabaul, the US invades Kwajalein with an all-infantry assault on the
island held by anti-tank weaponry. The invading American motorized corps storm
ashore with a fine roll of something like 15 on a +7 attack or so. A major
surface action ensues between the Japanese and American fleets, with the US
fleet coming off somewhat worse, losing several heavy cruisers to only 2
Japanese sub losses.
M/J:
The Allies gain initiative and a double turn. The line on the Po is strengthened
as US armour reinforcements attack southwards towards Rome. Tripoli falls to the
French and preparations are made to send them even further east. Russia is over
the Vistula in strength now, but the German lines are still solid.
Truk is captured by the US in a daring assault led by the US Marine armour funny
division which is tragically destroyed in the fighting. Chinese forces, building
steadily over years of relative quiet on the front, start to go on the offensive
but the front won't move too far.
J/A:
Sicily is invaded, Messina taken by paradrop and Syracuse by amphibious
invasion, however the rolls are bad and the paratroopers flip, as do the British
troops clearing a weak Italian garrison from central Sardinia. The liberation of
Malta is also achieved, again with heavy allied losses. O-chits are used to
reflip HQs and Palermo falls before the end of the turn. More bad rolls as the
American armour bogs down one hex from Rome after clearing away Italian
mechanized corps covering the approaches. Hopes for an August surrender of Italy
are dashed.
The Free French army commences landing in Egypt and presses towards Suez and
Cairo. Russian troops conquer Bulgaria and enter Yugoslavia, reaching Belgrade.
O-chit after o-chit drops on the central front but progress is still slow.
Pearl Harbour is recaptured from the Japanese after only flipping 2 of the
defenders with yet another joint Australian/Marine operation. This time the US
engineers die a glorious death after rolling a net "20" on something like a +4.5
attack. US fighter rebasing becomes much easier, especially with the United
States' advanced fighter building program kicking into gear. China liberates
French Indochina by taking Hanoi and bloodily repulsing a Japanese
counterattack.
S/O:
After the July/August disappointments, September/October proceeds smoothly. In a
long, mostly fair weather turn, new invasions and paradrops are effected on
either side of Naples, and Eisenhower's tanks blitz towards Rome once more with
renewed Vigour. British troops land on the Biscay coast, denuded of Axis
garrisons due to the crises in Italy and southern France, at St. Nazaire and La
Rochelle. Canadian armour comes ashore at St. Nazaire in the follow on waves and
crushes Model, who has been hastily railed to block this new incursion. Nantes
falls without a fight, although German counterattacks crush the La Rochelle
landing.
Rome and Naples both fall as the turn continues, sealing Italy's doom. Suez and
Cairo fall, and Tirana in Albania is taken by a late turn invasion/paradrop.
Axis troops flee out of Southern France, heading for the Seine. The Spanish,
Southern France, and Northern France allied armies soon link up as more Allied
armour pours into newly captured Brest and Nantes. Force H, the British carrier
fleet, 8 carriers strong, is withdrawn to England for reorganization and
redesignated Force Z.
Italy is incompletely conquered, and with Yugoslavia about to fall to the
Soviets, Eritrea becomes the new home country.
Japan is marshalling its forces to retake Truk, and the US fights to maintain
supply to the embattled island. A major naval battle between the US and Japan in
the Solomans ensues, resulting in 3 sunk US carriers to a single Japanese
carrier sunk, the only one lost all game. The US tenuously maintains supply at
the end of the turn. Chinese Communists retake Sian, but after further bitter
fighting the front does not move any further east.
N/D:
The western Allies pursue the Germans to the river Seine, isolating Lyon and
Vichy. British armour oozes through the gap between the Seine and the Saone as a
beefy 4-2 French Partisan occupies Lille. A late turn attack on Lyon kills 2/3rd
of the defenders but the Allies fail to take the city. In Italy, Venice and
Trieste fall as the Allies blitz north across the Po Valley and up to the Swiss
border, cutting off 7 or 8 German corps in northern Italy.
TF 58 and the British slow battleships steam eastward through the Suez canal,
the British battleships stopping briefly in the Red Sea to lend assistance to
France-British landings in Ethiopia and Sudan in preparation for the assault on
Eritrea.
Japan takes a supercombined and launches the expected assault on Truk,
succeeding in a +8 attack. A 2nd naval battle in Solomans results in 3 more sunk
US carriers bringing to 11 total the number of US carriers lost in the Pacific.
The flipped US land-based air is cut off, out of supply in the Carolinas.
1945
J/F:
Eritrea falls by the end of the turn, and with Yugoslavia also conquered, Italy
is removed from the war. The British land in Fredrickshavn in Denmark, and
British cruisers start operating in the Baltic, helping the Soviet Navy clear
out the German ore convoys.
Japanese troops overrun 6 Allied FTR2s in the Carolinas, but despite this
setback the US is planning a fresh offensive.
M/A:
The disappearance of Italian units from German defensive lines coupled with
unseasonably good weather and Allied initiative leads to the collapse of the
Seine defence. US armour charges over the river north of Paris, blitzing to the
doorstep of Lille. Allied paratroops gain purchase on the east bank of the Seine
south of Paris. Rouen and Lyon fall in follow on attacks. The Germans leave one
corp to hold Paris and the rest of the army flees for the Rhine.
Allied troops invade the low countries, taking Rotterdam and landing north of
Amsterdam, cutting off the 10-5 SS Panzer Corps in Amsterdam. American troops
invade Bremen. An attempt to take an out-of-supply Milan fails. The German navy
sorties to try and re-establish the Baltic convoys but in a series of
engagements vs a British Swordfish unit, the remaining combat ships of the
Kriegsmarine are sunk or damaged and never sail again.
The Russians push boldly to the outskirts of Berlin and Prague, with some Soviet
units entering southern Germany.
Paris falls before the end of the turn and France is liberated.
In the Pacific, The US takes advantage of initiative to retake Truk on a +9
assault, it will remain henceforth in US hands, defended by a full stack of
American armour. USSR declares war on Japan and sends forces south into
Manchuria.
M/J:
Fresh Allied troops flood into Western Europe as the Germans are pushed back
towards the Rhine. The skies blacken with Allied aircraft as dozens of ground
strikes go in all across Germany. The Luftwaffe, outclassed badly now, takes the
worst of it. The Soviets push to Munich in the south and take Berlin in the
north as the western Allies capture Hanover, Essen, Saarbrucken, Metz and Aachen,
also liberating Denmark. However late turn assaults on Hamburg, Munich
(Soviets), Dusseldorf (Allies) fail, and, out of steam for the turn, the Allies
are forced to concede that Germany will survive in some form into the last turn
of the game.
In the Pacific, French forces, fresh from conquest of Eritrea and morale buoyed
by liberation manage to retake Ceylon from the Japanese. The Japanese fleet
bases in Tokyo.
Bill Duncan points dramatically and Steve mugs for the camera as Germany crumbles...
J/A:
The final German enclaves around Hamburg, Munich, and Stuttgart fall to Soviet
assaults and Dusseldorf is taken by the western Allies. Finland, a quiet sector
throughout the war, now becomes the focus of Allied & Soviet effort. Soviet
paratroopers reposition to threaten Helsinki and Soviet spearheads take Petsamo
and flood into southern Finland. A British force under Alexsander lands at Hango
but takes losses and is disorganized by fierce Finnish resistance. More British
and Americans land, but the Soviets need no further assistance to take Helsinki,
which falls well before turn end. Germany is completely conquered!
French, British, and American forces vy for control of Saigon, but multiple
assaults over multiple impulses, with both attacker and defender reinforcing see
Saigon still in Japanese hands at game end. An American grab for Shanghai is
initially successful but its defence is stymied by Japanese domination of the
China Sea, and much unrecorded carnage occurred there (generally the suicide of
the remaining US carrier force), but the brave sacrifice of these ships did
prevent Japanese reinforcements from reaching Korea for the planning o-chit
assault on Vladivostok.
With all sides exhausted, July/August and the game as a whole grinds to a close,
a narrowly won Allied victory.
Final Wifcon Score: Allies 36, Axis -2
Ok maybe not THAT narrowly won... it sure seemed a lot closer when we were playing it out though. I'll never understand WiFFE scoring!
***
