John Prados Third Reich Session Report #4

Friday night the Brigadista and I got together for another session of our Third Reich game.

Turn 12 (Summer 1942)

Event: Coup in Iraq (Britain must dispatch a unit to northern Iraq or lose standing with Turkey.)

Political Activity:  Italy declares war on Romania.

Military Activity:  Italy crushes Romania and redirects forces back to the Mediteranean.  Germans make limited progress on the southern Russian front.  Front line in Russia is stabilizing on the main river lines.  U.S. ships forces to Britain.

Notes:  An odd situation developed:  Romania had declared war on Germany, but was not allied to Russia.  As a result, Italy was able to declare war on Romania without declaring war on Russia or the Western allies.  The Romanian army was engaged with Hungary and the capital was weakly defended.

Turn 13 (Fall 1942)

Event:  Churchill Directs (Churchill meddles again - this time forcing two British units to move to Oran.)

Political Activity:  Italy declares war on Britain.  USA and USSR declare war on Italy in return.  Germany and Italy form an alliance.  The lineup is Germany, Italy, Finland, Hungary, Vichy France, and Spain against Britain, USA, and USSR.  Turkey and Sweden are the only signifiacnt neutrals left in the game.

Military Activity:  Italian and British fleets clash in the Eastern Med.  Italians establish sea control.  Italy launches a surprise amphibious assault that captures Suez and isolates all the British forces in Egypt.  Italian bombers pound Malta.  US and British bombers hammer Essen.  (They've been doing this most of the game.)  Germans make more gains in southern Russia.  German armored/airborne assault on Vitebsk fails.  Additional British and U.S. forces move into Tunisia and Algeria.

Notes:  The Brigadista admitted to seriously underestimating Italian naval power and amphibious capability.  They are much stronger in this game than they were historically.  An additional two years to build up and absorb minor countries really helps!

Turn 12 (Winter 1942)

Event:  Independent Ukraine (Germany can form an independent Ukrainian state if they control every city in Ukraine.)

Political Activity:  Everyone vies for the affections of Turkey with no result.

Military Activity:  Exceptionally mild winter in Russia.  No conclusive combat.  Russians repel another attack on Vitebsk.  Italians, Germans, and French reinforce Tunisia.  Showdown in Tunisia/Algeria looms.  Italian fleets transition to move to Messina, signaling an upcoming battle for the Western Med.  All British forces in Egypt surrender.

Notes:  The Brigadista had a window for an amphibious attack on Rome, but didn't have adequate forces available.

Session Notes:  Italy is a real over-achiever in this game.  Brigadista pointed out that this is probably in large part due to the AFV license event that allows Italy to build full-strength armored units (strength 4 instead of strength 2).  Two years of peace to conquer the Balkans didn't hurt, either.  The stronger AFV units made that conquest much easier than it would have been otherwise, of course.