Tag: baby grand (Page 5 of 5)

German

In a shock move Italy announces its departure from the war and intention to join the Allied forces. Hitler is shocked! Il Duce pledges undying loyalty and sets up an alternative regime in Milan. Several Blackshirt and para units remain loyal while the rest of the Italian army is disbanded except for those on Corsica, Sardinia (Cagliari defenders), the Syracuse XXs and a rather mobile force wedged between the British lodged in the instep and approaching Americans from Reggio. This unit is three 3-8 XXs, a mountain cadre, light Arm III, Cavalry III and two rather tasty strong Artillery units – just what the allies need at a time like this!

The Germans respond by trying to scuttle north but again harrassment delays the retreat and numerous breaks in the northern rail line make it hard to get troops down to the south. Germany has about 8 XXs worth of units in the lower end of the boot – all motorised or mechanised but strung out. The situation looks grim.

Allies

A series of attacks go in to try and circle behind the retreating German forces – a number of attacks are launched but terrain forces a number of AS results. The US Army is bringing overwhelming strength to bear in the region, the question remains can it be brought to bear in a manner that might cause serious damage to the Germans in Italy? The British units are withdrawn back to North Africa. What can be brewing?

Situation to date

Italy has been knocked out of the war through loss of numbers – around 52 REs worth, mostly courtesy of an amazing blood frenzy by the Yanks in Sicily in August I and some heavy air losses over this time period. I wasn’t expecting to roll for Italian surrender until late September due to my inability to take Cagliari and Corsica but I read the rules again for Italian surrender and decided to try my hand early. Lucky for me I did as it gave me enough troops courtesy of those left in Corsica and Sardinia to form up the Italian co-belligerent forces.

Italy appears to becoming an exclusively American show at the moment. All British troops and shipping are concentrated in North Africa or Southern England. A couple of battlegroups based around American AT Xs and an Indian XX have been placed on the map near the Rif. An Armoured Corp has arrived at Gibralter, whatever can this mean??

German

Troops are rushed down from central and northern Italy to block off the British threat, thankfully harrassment causes them to arrive strung out and unable to do little than contain the beachhead from the north. The Panzers at Messina cross to the main land and begin to pull out to the north, again delayed by allied air power. Italians are rushed to try and block the British from the south while a couple of pathetic AA units remain holding the Messina strait.

Allied

The British try and cut the toe off but are rebuffed by Italian defenders (damn their eyes!) and the US crosses over from Sicily, destroying the Italian defenders. The Near east and Middle east boxes are emptied of most troops who reform in North Africa. This puts the wind up the German CinC who spends some time looking at Spain. At Corsica, the all expenses paid holiday continues with the British actually shipping units off the island. (Admittedly for some French units, but as any good englishman will tell you they’re not really the same calibre). A couple of cowering coastal divisions in the corner of Sicily around Syracuse are ignored by the all conquering Americans.

German

Germans in Corsica slip back to the mainland while the remaining Italians take up positions in the mountains in the centre of the island and in Bastia. In Sicily the Germans flee for Messina and are just able to force the US units holding it out with a DR, much to the relief of the German CinC. Remaining Italian units struggle to reach the town but lack the leg power to do so. Sardinia girds itself for its fate.

Allies

Cagliari is attacked but an AS results. The northern end of the island is sprouting airfields at a rapid rate while in Corsica the troops take some time off to splash about in the Med and get a good suntan (forgot to move them, ooops!). In Sicily the US troops go crazy and slaughter everyone within reach by overruns, DEs or DR/ZoC losses. About a dozen or so Italian XX and assorted ants are wiped out. The destruction is so great I can’t help but feeling worried that it is going to catch up with me some time in the future. The German CinC goes into shock at the Italian losses but consols himself with the knowledge his Panzers are safe. At least until four British XXs land on the instep of the shoe south west of Catanzaro. This causes a bit of mild panic.

German

The German Pz Corp struggles through the air harrasment to launch an attack on the paras outside palermo, much to German OKW embarrasment the lightly armed paras see off Herman’s tank boys with harsh language and dirty looks. (Rolled AS hee hee). Along the north coast a strong corp of Italians march towards the US infantry east of Palermo. Elsewhere in the island the Italian coastal XXs flap about a bit trying to join each other to form some sort of mutual protection society but most are left isolated and alone. To the west of Palermo regular Italian troops threaten the US forces in the area.

At Sardinia, the paras are flown out while an Italian attack on the 1st Airborne results in an EX. The shrieks of indignity coming out of Whitehall upset “Ming the Merciless” (a lovely black and white cat named after Sir Robert Gordon Menzies for its ferocious eye whiskers) and Ming threatens to set off tectonic deep sea explosions off the coast of Norway but damage is minimal and Ming is sent to join her brother Nelson (named after Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson for waking up and looking around with one eye closed as a kitten) outside in disgrace. Meanwhile the militias are called out and Cagliari strengthened.

Allied

Sardinia the British assault out of their beach head crushing the grubby little swines who destroyed my Para brigades earlier while the 11th Armoured XX breakdown to storm through to outside Cagliari while its mechanised component enters La Maddalena. At Sicily the Italians to the east of Palermo are pulverised into atoms by a strong US attack which opens up the route to Messina. US Armoured forces obligingly enter the town to the howls of outrage from Berchtesgarten – could two panzer divisions be trapped on Sicily and lost so early in the war?? To add insult to injury a couple of British XXs land at Ajaccia in Corsica, swamping the poor little coastal XX left there.

German – Not much other than some shuffling of units about to try and repair rail hits in France and southern Italy. transports are flown to Sardinia to prepare to evacuate the parachutists from the island back to mainland Italy. Boo and hisses are heard from across the table at this cowardly act.

Allied – The forces of freedom and light swarm ashore at Sicily in and around Palermo itself. Allied fighters from Malta and USAAF bombers protect the landing sites by running harrassment runs from Messina back to the beach head. The Italian defenders are crushed by the landing Americans. An air landing south east of Palermo by the 82nd XX is pretty successful and follow forces add some stability to the area. British land in Sardinia around Alghero and Porto Torres. The 1st Airborne lands astride the transportation route south of Sassan. The few Italian defenders in this area are destroyed.

Okay, with the rules and stuff taken care of, I spent three days laying out the maps on trestle tables (and a circular garden table to place the Iberian peninsula in the correct spot that got me in no end of strife with the cheese and kisses – how was I to know she put her pegs on it for the clothes line??), counters and setting up the reinforcement counters on my specially made reinforcement charts. This was naturally interrupted by my new born proving to everyone just how loud he could cry when his dad wasn’t picking him up and fussing over him.

Finally I was able to go the Allied player – hurrah for me! Unfortunately this meant my opponent had to spend another couple of hours setting up his defences which included burning up exisiting RPs as forts along the east bank of the Seine, along the Tiber, Po and around Cassino as well as making Normandy look like a death trap – forts everywhere. He also was very conscious of the fact that Spain stood out like the dog’s proverbials (lets face it, the whole reason why I devised this game was so I could invade Spain so it was a no brainer to know that I would do it and probably before November 1943 when the Garrisons of Spain convert to the 2-3-6* XXs). With this in mind a Panzer XX was stationed along the border along the Mediterranean coast and a PG XX across from San Sebastian in Bayonne with a couple of insignificant units along the Pyrenees.

In Corsica the Germans cringe in Bastia while the Italians are spread over Sardinia, Sicily and southern Corsica to dissuade any Allied heroics in the area. Most surprising was a fort placed in Cagliari which made me adjust my preconceptions over where I was to intially invade. Messina and Reggio and Villa San Giova are stuffed full of AA works with the HG Pz XX and and Whermacht Pz XX wait on the italian mainland to be shuttled across to Sicily by the LC stationed at Messina. The Italian navy skulk about in Genoa and Naples, catching horrid diseases and sharing a few new ones about.

In France there is little to say other than Normandy and Brittany was heavily defended – the heaviest I have ever seen actually and the interior and south was bare (except for the Italians of course). The Luftwaffe were in strong force in Holland and Belgium and AA and construction units were positioned along a central rail line running through France. Obviously the intention was to maintain a single RR at least to ensure units would remain in supply throughout the bulk of France and well into Spain if needed. This sort of tactic was poo-poohed by Allied Air Command as the sort of devious and cowardly trick that “Jerry” would get up to. Confidence was high however that superior Air power would make a mockery of the supply situation in France.

Allied air turn – massive bombing of Sicily and southern Italy, lots of harrassment flown around Messina. Northern france starts looking like a case of the measles as red hit markers sprout up along the rail lines. The intention is to continue these at a rate that makes it impossible for the German to fix with the construction units he has available before shutting down the rail network before any cross channel attack in 1944. This continues throughout the period described below.

Make mine a 52 week year please! – In order to have “true” two week turns, an extra turn is inserted into the middle June and September – these being turns with no reinforcements or replacements only movement and combat to reflect the traditional campaign seasons of Europe – this effectively makes 26 turns a year as opposed to 24. Naturally this mainly affects 1944 and favours the Allies. June and September were selected because the weather will always be clear and it spread out these extra turns from one another.

Spain

• Spanish Blue XX or Legion III returns to west on the turn following Allied invasion of Spain
• Spain has potential to detect Allied intentions – roll on success table – if S then Mobilization +0 carried out. Add one to die roll if 6 or more REs staioned in Gibraltar (not including garrison units)
• Spanish surrender – Disband all remaining Spanish forces. All units stacked with German forces are disbanded and begin to form 1st and 2nd SS Spanish XX, available 6 turns after Spanish surrender in the Greater Germany theatre. (Note Spanish Blue XX or Legion III are counted as Spanish units). To be formed each XX requires 3 REs of disbanded Spanish troops. REs in excess of this amount are lost.
• Allies must occupy Spanish cities 1 RE per reference and dot city, 3 REs per city hex until “liberated” Spanish Republican unit is produced for that area [making it another risky/expensive venture for the allies to invade Spain and to reflect the need to re-purify the area of Falangists]. Failure to do so results in -1 VP per region not garrisoned to reflect on the failure to control Republicans taking the law into their hands and punishing Civil war enemies. Killing of priests and nuns makes poor press in New York papers.
• Spanish navy scuttles itself on Spain’s surrender [to avoid icky rules about who gets what and rolling for ownership and so on].

Republican Spain

• Units can only be sent outside Spain once all regions are “pacified” and the Falangist Govt has surrendered. Zone of operations is France and Greater Germany
• There is no need to garrison Morocco as the French have volunteered to “look after” it until a suitable time in the future.

Portugal

• Treat as per existing FWTBT Rules for entry of allies and declaring war on Germany
• Portuguese REs count as twice their value for the garrisoning of Spanish cities [sort of reflects Iberian sympathies and sensitivities]
• Brazilian Division must land in Lisbon [just kidding!!]

Sweden

• Will only enter the war on Allied side if at least 15 REs are in Norway, supplied and in possession of a standard Port in weather Zone B after September 1944 and if at least two European Capitals are in Allied control (not including London).
• Zone of operations is limited to Norway and Denmark and within 6 hexes of Baltic coast in Germany.
• Roll on success table – modify +1 for every 5 REs in excess of basic Allied amount, +1 per Norwegian Dot/reference city in Allied control.
• Allies can roll once for Swedish entry.

Liberation

• For a capital to be liberated, its Govt in Exile must be returned to it – this will require markers for Belgian, Dutch and Czech govts to be made.
• The city must be in a regular means of supply.
• The Govt in Exile is then moved to the city.

Allied Player Turn

• All forces except for the South East theatre are under direct control – only garrisons have to be maintained. This includes the Norwegian Raiding Box, but the 29th Ranger II is disbanded on the listed OB date regardless of whether it is in play or not.

Germany

• All units in North, West, South and Greater Germany are under command and can be shared as required between them. garrison levels must be maintained or the Allies gain guerilla attacks as outlined in the SF rules – Norway gets one attack per region if garrison levels not maintained.

Advanced rules – most of these were used especially roads and bridges. Travel at full speed in mud? You betcha!

Allied

Rome + 10
Paris + 7
Brussels + 3
The Hague + 3
Oslo + 5
Copenhagen + 10
Vienna + 7
Prague + 7
Madrid + 3
Hex of Berlin + 10 each
Per German city captured + 2 each (note conurbations count as one city)
Capture/surrender of German Govt + 10
Capture/surrender of RSI Govt + 3
Capture/surrender of Italian Govt +3
Capture/surrender of Spanish Govt + 3
Each axis naval point sunk + 1

German

Paris retained after Sep 44 -1/turn
MR1 retained after Sep 44 -1/turn
Brussels retained after Sep 44 -1/turn
Rome retained after June 44 -1/per turn
Rome retained after Jan 45 -2/turn.
Swedish Govt relocates or is captured/surrenders -3
Madrid held 6 turns after allied invasion -10
European Capitals occupied at end of game (as per list above) -2 each (note Russian advance doesn’t affect this – German player gets VPs for cities that Western Allies fail to occupy)
Each Allied strength point or air unit in Replacement pool -1 per 2 strength points or air units
Each Allied Naval point sunk -1
Ruhr conurbation able to trace supply line to another German city after March 45 -3/turn
Allied failure to maintain Spanish garrison -1/region (see below)

Notes:

• Copenhagen VPs are high because it looks bloody hard to get there and if the Allies can capture it then they deserve the points. The same applies for Prague and Vienna.
• Madrid and Spanish govt is low because on paper it looks very easy – also to force the allied player to question whether it is really worth invading to get these low VPs.
• Rome is high and the penalty for not obtaining it is due to the symbolic value of the city.
• The bonus for the German player in retaining Paris and MR1 is the resource point generated in these areas and to reflect the need for Germany to maintain the economic income from these areas.
• The VPs deducted for maintaining contact with the Ruhr is to punish Allied players who fail to break into the Reich. Like wise the reward for capturing German cities is an encouragement to get stuck in to the Germans.
• The one off bonus for Madrid being in Axis hands is to encourage some sort of defence of the Iberian peninsula rather than standing at the Pyrenees – although again this must be weighed up against the potential drain on resorces from Italy or France.
• The big points are for Berlin as this is the seat of Fascism and as these VPs are about territory and destroying Hitler and Il Duce (and Franco if so desired) Berlin was seen as being important.
• The VPs deducted for allied losses are less to reflect the “crusading” nature of the conflict for the Western Allies (the idea being losses don’t count as much when your in a holy war) and to force the German to try and hold objectives longer rather than run away to the Westwall.