RE: Shannon vrsus Z

RE: Shannon vrsus Z (Full Version)

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Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: Shannon vrsus Z (6/19/2017 5:03:41 PM)
May June 1940 Impulse 8, Axis to move. So the Russians mostly held tight. The 2-4 Cav was railed to Kalinin to hold that city. The 7-2 is holding the all-important hex adjacent to Smolensk with its lovely 4 hexsides of river protection. The Russian engineer is drinking vodka in Smolensk, screwing up his courage for what is to come. Gomel is save for the moment because the swamp prevents the Germans from cutting around to the south of the 7-2 militia unit. Vitebsk has 8 combat factors and Minsk has 15. It looks like it is time to attack Minsk. There are more Axis bombers available in the south. Note that the Do 17Z already tried a ground strike last Axis impulse (in the snow) and missed all 3 units in Minsk - 20% chance of disorganizing each unit. The Russian fighter won't be able to intercept bombers over Minsk. [image]local://upfiles/16701/4D9903CF41894FA2969A108616899822.jpg[/image]

Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: Shannon vrsus Z (6/19/2017 5:11:46 PM)
May June 1940 Impulse 9 Allies to move. So the attack on Minsk was marginally successful. The bombers (6 factor and 5 factor) only disorganized 2 of the 3 units. The attack was 1 loss for the defenders (the division) and 2 for the attackers (I don't remember the odds or the die roll). The Axis chose to kill off both the SS units since the 6-3 SS corps is arriving as a reinforcement and can then be broken down into the two divisions again. The rest of the Axis Stukas have arrived on scene. Only 1 of the Russian corps in Minsk is organized. What is not obvious here is that 2 more militia units have been railed in (there is a 6-2 under the Stuka in Vilna). von Leeb was reorganized using an Offensive chit and then reorganized the militia units in preparation for another attack on Minsk. von Bock is suppose to move south and reorganize 3 more corps so the attack (2 Axis impulses hence) would be pretty good. Mercifully for the USSR the turn ended. [I need to go play golf now (at my age the choice is exercise or die). I'll do Lvov next time I sit down at the computer.] [image]local://upfiles/16701/19C3F7D995A945B98913EBE0FE66E83F.jpg[/image]

Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: Shannon vrsus Z (6/20/2017 2:49:07 AM)
May June 1940 Impulse 1 Allies to Move Lvov There isn't much for the Allies to do here. However, they ran a 3-5 Cav up to the forest hex 4 hexes above Cernauti. That forest hex, plus Lvov, plus Cernauti provides a line of ZOC, preventing the Axis from charging too far to the east. [image]local://upfiles/16701/B8620BB6C38C4508833F5851D3A2FBE5.jpg[/image]

Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: Shannon vrsus Z (6/20/2017 3:01:00 AM)
May June 1940 Impulse 2 Axis to move. Lvov See the previous post for all the Axis units. Taking out Lvov without casualties is crucial. This is early in a summer turn so I don't want any units to become disorganized. Everyone needs to march east as fast and as far as they can go. Disorganized units would be a real pain because they would be OOS at the end of the turn, and the start of the next turn, once the HQs leave them in the dust. I sent in the weakest of the bombers for ground strikes: the 3 factor Italian and 3 factor German (He 111). They managed to disorganize the 4-1 garrison, making the attack automatic. I want to get the 2-4 Hungarian into Poland to act as a garrison once all the other units head east into Ukraine. Rundstedt has appeared in Rumania, which is why the Cav is now in supply. The Hungarians are worthless on the attack because they do not cooperate with the Italians or the Rumanians. That 4-4 Inf has been stuck west of Krakow for a couple of turns now. He is one of the few hit takers available for the Axis in this theater. All the 3 movers in the north of this screen shot are header towards Minsk. The division of forces is for slow movers to go north and fast movers to the Ukraine. [image]local://upfiles/16701/79EA549919BD46AEA465DE487060B494.jpg[/image]

Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: Shannon vrsus Z (6/20/2017 3:05:06 AM)
May June Impulse 3 Allies to move Lvov The weather has turned to snow, but that doesn't do the Russians much good here. The 3-5 would be OOS regardless and i is clearly time for him to run away run away. The Axis units will all be in supply and free to move as far as their legs (and vehicles) can carry them. This is the last in the Lvov series. The action now turns to Rumania. [image]local://upfiles/16701/933CBF61BB1B453DAA630A758655BE5A.jpg[/image]

Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: Shannon vrsus Z (6/20/2017 3:10:24 AM)
May June 1940 Impulse 1 Allies to move Rumania The Russians look pretty good here. Odessa plus the Bessarabian cities make a strong defensive line. This is especially true against the 2 German units with their Rumanian allies. There are even 4 other corps available. But that is a lot of clear terrain. The Cav gets sent to the forest hex, as shown in the posts above about Lvov. What should the other 3 corps do? [image]local://upfiles/16701/408748E04D9F4F9586C8CA6316D70400.jpg[/image]

Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: Shannon vrsus Z (6/20/2017 3:18:52 AM)
May June 1940 Impulse 2 Axis to move. Rumania My plan here was to rail in more German units - Armor and Mech. I thought the Rumanian HQ would set up last turn with its other fellows when Rumania was aligned, but it arrived as a reinforcement at the start of this turn. Last turn the German HQ railed in and the 9-4 Inf railed in on top of him. There were 2 Rumanian reinforcements and they both had to be placed in Bucharest. That reduced the number of rail stations to 1: the port Constanta. So, I had to defer railing in multiple units until the next Axis impulse. In preparation, I split the HQs and made sure each of them was alone in a rail hex. I also made sure Bucharest was empty. In the meantime, I railed in an 8-6 Mech to Constanta. It has enough movement points to reach the Bessarabian cities. [image]local://upfiles/16701/82FAAAF3137247CF99AEF7CE4BAE9A1F.jpg[/image]

Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: Shannon vrsus Z (6/20/2017 3:22:23 AM)
May June 1940 Impulse 3 Allies to move Rumania The Axis units in Rumania aren't very imposing, but they are capable of oozing through the Russian line. Meanwhile their friends that are flush with victory in Lvov are coming in from the NW. Retreating the USSR units looks like a bad idea. They are much better off in supply in cities where all attacks will be on the Assault table. [image]local://upfiles/16701/AA5A8A8A944F4795B53877A509DC86EB.jpg[/image]

Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: Shannon vrsus Z (6/20/2017 3:28:49 AM)
May June 1940 Impulse 5 Axis to move. Rumania Cernauti is better attacked from the south using Rumanians. But the German units around Lvov can help out. The Italians and Rumanians do not cooperate, so the Italians will just head east. I foolishly tried a ground strike on Cernauti with one of the Ju 88A1s. A pitiful 10% chance. It would have been better to air rebase one of the Stukas still sitting in western Poland to help out with Minsk. My idea - such as it was - was that if the 5-3 Inf was disorganized, I would be able to make two guaranteed attacks on the Bessarabian cities, once the 3 other good German units were railed in and reorganized. [image]local://upfiles/16701/F73E93D061EB4CC99BD0BE59C102CCF4.jpg[/image]

Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: Shannon vrsus Z (6/20/2017 3:38:38 AM)
May June 1940 Impulse 7 Allies to move. Rumania Things have taken a marked turn for the worse for the Russians. The Cav is holding it own NW of Kiev (supply from Gomel) and there is a corps to hold Kiev itself. But other than that? Note that the factories in Odessa and Kiev have both been evacuated. This turn the Russians decided to evacuate the factory in Vitebsk (up north). Both Leningrad factories are stuck though. What is really needed here is to rail in a reinforcement from Manchuria, but none is readily available. Besides, doing that would mean the Vitebsk factory would not be able to move (2 rail moves). This was actually part of my planning for this offensive (way back in the first axis impulse of Mar/Apr 1940). I knew that the USSR would have to choose between railing out its factories (2 rail moves) or railing in reinforcements from Manchuria (2 or 3 rail moves). The USSR only gets 3 rail moves - and that requires them to take a Land action. The Japanese convoys are safe from the USSR subs in Vladivostok for the foreseeable future. [image]local://upfiles/16701/7C538D76A8E846A6B7E2D4057F3F708E.jpg[/image]

Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: Shannon vrsus Z (6/20/2017 3:48:35 AM)
May June 1940 Impulse 8 Axis to move. Rumania I believe Z made a mistake here. A volunteer needs to be thrown in front of the Axis advance, but the 5-3 would have been a better choice. That unit could have gotten one hex farther south and created a north-south line of ZOC from the Cav above Kiev to Odessa. The Kiev militia is also an elite unit and would be stronger if later forced OOS and disorganized. There would have been no threat of the 5-3 getting cut off from supply in the upcoming Axis impulse. But the 5-2 is in danger of having that happen. What I did here was have the Axis burn an O-chit and reorganize Rundstedt and von Leeb (up north). I wanted to have the ability to break through the Dnieper in strength this turn. I was able to get an automatic attack against one Bessarabian city and an almost-automatic against the other. The Italians were also able to get an almost automatic against the 5-2 militia - all without risking ground strikes. [image]local://upfiles/16701/CEF5E4A16C6445ACBE8E2CD64633856A.jpg[/image]

Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: Shannon vrsus Z (6/20/2017 3:58:24 AM)
May June 1940 Impulse 9 Allies to move. Rumania Bessarabia has fallen. All the Axis units are in supply and the weather is great. That nasty 2-4 Rumanian Cav is threatening Stalino and Sevastopol. There is also the Finnish Ski unit in the north threatening Yaroslavl. The USSR has one available unit to hold all 3 threatened cities: a 1-3 Eng which can be railed in from Smolensk. Don't forget the Italian Mech which can reach Kharkov. And the Axis has 70+ attack factors here that can reach the Dnieper. Z chose the best moves (in my opinion). He moved the militia one hex east, out of Kiev and railed the Eng to Stalino. The two Russain air units rebased from the north to the south. That blocked the Mech from reaching Kharkov and protected the 2 factories in Stalino. Then he brilliantly rolled a 2 ending the turn! 30% chance. [image]local://upfiles/16701/4081D9ECBA8E4FA6ADE55ECA8AA75F7C.jpg[/image]

Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: Shannon vrsus Z (6/20/2017 4:00:04 AM)
May June 1940 end of turn Overview of the Eastern Front. [image]local://upfiles/16701/18F84F069B864F52B966C82E4EE630E0.jpg[/image]

Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: Shannon vrsus Z (6/20/2017 5:37:46 AM)
I thought I would give an overview of the turn, vis-a-vis Germany. The decision to attack Russia instead of France Assuming that Germany had ignored the USSR weakness in Europe, ... The weather in Mar/Apr 1940 was awful and Germany would not have been able to DOW Belgium with any hope of conquering it. The first opportunity would have been in the second impulse of May/June, at which time Brusslas would have fallen and all the Belgian units destroyed. In the 3rd impulse, the French and Brits could have entered Belgium, despite the bad weather. The Germans would have been able to do very much though in their following impulse (#5). So Germany would have only had one impulse to take on the French and Brits that had advanced into Belgium. Maybe taking one hex, certainly no more than 2. That would have left them with the rest of Belgium to free of Allied units plus drive on to Paris in Jul/Aug. Probably they could have taken Paris by the end of Jul/Aug and if not, sometime in Sep/Oct. Unless the weather turned really bad. Meanwhile the USSR would have been clobbering the Japanese in Manchuria. As is turned out, the Chinese had a pretty easy time of it even without the Japanese having to throw everything into Manchuria to hold the line there. Right now in the game, the Chinese are looking pretty good and the Communist Chinese have gone over to the offensive. The build up on the Russian front. It took a few impulses, but the Axis was able to rebase most of their air force to Poland where it only had one short range fighter to worry about. And only one 2 tactical factor bomber. Air power made a big difference in clearing the cities and generally intimidating the Russian units. Rail moves followed by HQs reorganizing the newly arrived units meant that the Axis was able to triple or even quadruple the combat strength it had facing the Russians. Warm bodies in excess meant they could ooze through the Russian lines. I spent an O-chit to reorganize the HQs and that would have been brilliant - if the turn hadn't ended. As it turned out, it was mostly a wasted O-chit. Sigh.[8\|] Dreams of 12 impulse summer turns dance in the head of Axis commanders; right up until 1943.[:D]

Mayhemizer_slith -> RE: Shannon vrsus Z (6/20/2017 1:10:15 PM)
Interesting to see how quickly France befomes powerfull enough to attack. Can I ask picture of German/French border?

Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: Shannon vrsus Z (6/20/2017 6:57:26 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Mayhemizer Interesting to see how quickly France befomes powerfull enough to attack. Can I ask picture of German/French border? I'll go around the other battlefronts and end with Belgium. May June End of Turn Southern China Nothing's happening. The weather is about to turn nasty here and the Chinese Attack Weakness optional rule limits Chinese aggression. The Chinese did do an attack in a previous turn against an isolated AA gun and rolled a 3. That would have destroyed all their forces in the south except that I chose the Blitz table so all the attackers were merely disorganized. I think the Chinese are a little leery of attacks since the last one here could have lost all of southern China. [image]local://upfiles/16701/5B71D31D837C45E48CC4E9033E1DBBD8.jpg[/image]

Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: Shannon vrsus Z (6/20/2017 7:04:09 PM)
May June 1940 End of Turn Central China I have placed the best land units on top of each stack. Here the Japanese need to clear up the OOS Nationalists units behind the lines. That will require successful ground strikes because the risk of losses is too high attacking 6 defending combat factors. There are 3 bombers here, plus another with a range of 14 available. Eventually one of those ground strikes will succeed. The Communist Chinese have moved east as more reinforcements arrive. They had been huddled in the hills to the west of the clear terrain hexes. All in all, the Chinese are looking pretty good here, except for the gap in their ZOC line in the south. [image]local://upfiles/16701/5D41C1AE0AE149B7B810B7758B36A886.jpg[/image]

Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: Shannon vrsus Z (6/20/2017 7:09:32 PM)
May June 1940 End of turn Northern China This is the current headache for the Japanese. The two Allied cavalry units are running free. Even if the Axis moves first, they won't be able to stop those units from taking crucial hexes. Of course the cavalry will then be OOS and disorganized - stationary targets worth 1 combat factor and giving up 2 on the die roll. I don't think the Japanese Warlord and Territorial will be able to deal with them by themselves though. [image]local://upfiles/16701/673749CB31134073A8EC5D874E8D1381.jpg[/image]

Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: Shannon vrsus Z (6/20/2017 7:28:46 PM)
May June 1940 End of turn Manchuria The Russians just took Tsitsihar with its resource point. They have a really nice army here and outnumber the Japanese in unit count. The Japanese are hiding in cities and mountain hexes; immediately building any Manchurian territorials that are lost so they arrive back in one of the cities. Clearly a defensive posture. The Japanese are tricky though. I just moved the 6-3 Inf east, away from defending the Manchurian cities. My goal was threefold: 1 - cut the rail line for Russian supply east. 2 - link up with Marine units for an attack on Vladivostok. 3 - hinder the Russians from moving units back to defend Vladivostok. I have placed the Japanese Marines in a port on the Sea of Japan with 2 transports and there is an arriving Inf corps that can be broken down for two more invaders aboard light cruisers. Plus the AMPH is available with a 6-4 Inf. To make this all happen, I will rail an HQ up to Rashin next turn, putting everyone in supply and giving the Japanese another coastal hex for landing units. The 3-2 Militia in Vladivostok is tending to 2 submarines. He is unlikely to get reinforced given the need for units along the Dnieper. === The USSR spent their first two impulses of the next turn advancing on Harbin and circling around Changchun - heading for Mukden. I think that was a mistake. By their third impulse so did they, and they started the long retreat back the way they had come. With the Inf HQ bringing up the rear on its one hex per impulse trek to Tsitsihar. Starting with their 2nd impulse they railed a corps out of Manchuria into an empty city in European Russian, thereby preventing the Germans from simply 'walking' into Soviet cities like Rostov, Moscow, Stalingrad, Krasnodar, and Yaroslavl. [image]local://upfiles/16701/B96B6D19DEF8485DB1D2B2CE7A1DED0D.jpg[/image]

Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: Shannon vrsus Z (6/20/2017 7:33:44 PM)
May June 1940 End of turn Egypt A truly boring theater. The Brits chose to not shatter Balbo when they had the chance. They are reluctant now to even destroy him, which they could easily do helped shore bombardment. I guess their thinking that an Italian HQ in Africa is less dangerous than one in Italy (or Russia). [image]local://upfiles/16701/ABB6914329A0425FB56162C0CF6FD651.jpg[/image]

Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: Shannon vrsus Z (6/20/2017 7:39:23 PM)
May June 1940 End of turn Italy The Italians are on the defensive and have a pretty strong line. The French could launch an attack by the odds wouldn't be very good. Losing 3 French units would leave their line quite weak - the extra units in the coastal hexes are mostly naval units. As it is, The French 5-4 Inf journeyed across the Med to Libya to keep the Italians from walking along the coast (one move per turn) and conquering Libya like they did Tunisia. [image]local://upfiles/16701/741ACD3E99FB4F9B86D6156C200EF29C.jpg[/image]

Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: Shannon vrsus Z (6/20/2017 7:41:44 PM)
May June 1940 End of turn Tunisia I skipped this by accident; it should have been before Italy. Nothing much going on. The Italian cruiser has been stuck here OOS and disorganized for a while. There is a land unit in Malta. [image]local://upfiles/16701/E8ABAC18913640A9B7FD0BE58B865FB3.jpg[/image]

Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: Shannon vrsus Z (6/20/2017 7:49:04 PM)
May June 1940 End of turn Denmark Another headache for the Axis. Frederickshaven has an HQ and a bunch of naval units. The navy, including a carrier, enter the Baltic each turn and mess around with the German convoys. So far the convoys have avoided losses, but they have had to return to base this previous turn, reducing German production points by 4. Next turn the Brits attack the 5-4 across the straits using a newly landed 7-6 armor and with support from shore bombardment - vaporizing the German Inf. The 6-3 Inf charges forward to Aarhus (bad decision) and narrowly avoid a ground strike, which would have left him OOS and disorganized to be overrun by the aforementioned 7-6 armor. The Germans are barely holding on here. Their big advantage is that their reinforcements arrive in the front line while the Commonwealth has to transport theirs over the North Sea. [image]local://upfiles/16701/096181E708A048D59DD3502882196857.jpg[/image]

Shannon V. OKeets -> RE: Shannon vrsus Z (6/20/2017 7:58:54 PM)
May June 1940 End of turn France The requested screenshot. The French have the advantage here, but not by much. Most of the Commonwealth units have left and they are soon to be followed by the remaining 3 corps. There is a 4-2 Art under the 7-2 Militia. There is also fighter cover for the German front line. If the French attack into Germany and succeed and advance into Germany, they would boost the German production multiple from 0.75 to 1.25: 14 BPs would become 23 BPs. If they DOW Belgium, the US entry chits would lose 1, maybe 2 (1.2). That would be twice as bad if the Commonwealth also DOWs Belgium. The French would be unlikely to destroy all the Belgian units. They would not be able to occupy Brussels immediately and the Germans would. The big advantage for the Germans is that reinforcements arrive here immediately. Guderian in Jul Aug. Rommel in Sep Oct. [image]local://upfiles/16701/161CE1EAE270483CAC7CABF9DDAF8F9E.jpg[/image]

Orm -> RE: Shannon vrsus Z (7/6/2017 1:53:08 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets Mar/Apr 1940, End of Turn Southern China All is quiet here. The Japanese cut the Burma Road (diplomatically) but because French Indochina still belongs to France, resources can be shipped through there to Chinese factories. [image]local://upfiles/16701/FF7A240D2A5249A8A27BFF23BD3A5ACE.jpg[/image] Is this correct? I think that if the program allows this then it is a bug. The rule concerning diplomatic closure of the Burma Road specifically includes, and forbids, use of the Indo-Chinese railways for resources to China. Cut from: 13.3.3 US entry actions .... 6. Japan forces closure of Burma Road - the Burma Road is one way that the Allies can transport resources (see 13.3.2, entry option 9) and build points (entry option 17) to China. The Axis can close it by physical occupation but Japan can also close it by diplomatic pressure on the Commonwealth. If Japan does this, an Allied major power can�t transport resources or build points to China via the Burma Road or French Indo-China until it is at war with Japan or the USA chooses US entry option 24. China can still use the road to transport its own resources. You only have to roll a die for diplomatic closure of the Burma Road, not for physical closure.

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