Turn 13 (Spring 1943) featured mud on the eastern front, so not much happened other than a consolidation of lines. There was a Finnish offensive in the north that destroyed a Soviet corps. The Germans were able to build their two "monster" panzer units this turn, which they did and moved up to the eastern front. In Algeria, the allies brought in two British armoured corps and two infantry corps to supplement the US forces already present. The Italians tried to destroy the American armored corps, but failed. The Axis did obtain massive naval superiority in the western Mediterranean. At this point it could be fairly said that the Med was an Italian lake. The handful of allied fleets in the Med were blockaded in their ports.
Turn 14 (Summer 1943) unfolded perfectly for the Axis. The allies launched an offensive in Algeria/Tunisia that tried to destroy an Italian armored corps in the mountains. The axis counter-punch was an encirclement launched from Tunisia coordinated with an amphibious landing west of Algiers. Once again the Brigadista had underestimated Italian naval and amphibious capability. A huge Allied army was cut off in eastern Algeria. The Germans broke through in multiple places on the eastern front and encircled a large portion of the Soviet army. Breakout attempts were unsuccessful.
We called the game at this point. The Soviet army was shattered beyond repair and there would be nothing to stop the panzers in the fall. The Soviet Union was bound to fall. The majority of the British army was about to surrender (to join their mates who had surrendered in Egypt).
Final Analysis: I think the swing of the event chits was decidedly in the Axis favor. Brigadista was hamstrung with events forcing the British to send troops to India, Ireland, and Oran. He was forced to declare war on Vichy. The Italians benefited greatly from the AFV License that let them build their armored units to full strength.
All in all, it was a very fun game. And I'm not just saying that because I won!
Brigadista and I will be starting a new game of this in about a month. We're going to switch sides and use all of the variant counters. We're also going to use the expanded map that includes much of the middle east. After that, we're going to give the Pacific version a shot. Then, if we haven't gotten sick of the game, we're going to play the combined Europe/Pacific game.
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1 comment:
This was a great game, even though I was completely and totally defeated by the Italians! Oh, the shame. I really handicapped myself with my "historical" thinking, which repeatedly blinded me to the fact that the Italians had developed into a real force to be reckoned with on the land, at sea and in the air. I'm looking forward to the much discussed rematch. For now, though, we're on hiatus for a few weeks for the run-up to Little Wars.
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