John Prados Third Reich Wrap Up

The Brigadista and I managed to get in another session of our JP3R game on Friday night.  As I mentioned in my last post on the subject, we ended last time after the summer 1941 turn.  The Germans had invaded Russia and the British, having cleared North Africa, landed in Sicily.

Things really didn't go the Brigadista's way at all.  The German fall attacks in Russia were successful, but not overwhelmingly so.  The Russians were able to rebuild their units and even start to counter-attack.  Bad weather and a lack of money stymied any German efforts in Winter and Spring.  The Russians received massive force pool additions in Spring 1942, which pretty much eliminated any German opportunity to win the war.

In Sicily, the British army bypassed the main Italian army and captured Messina.  The Italian forces on Sicily were forced to surrender.  The British hopped the straights of Messina and invaded the boot of Italy proper, where they were stopped by hastily summoned German infantry.  The Italians had had enough at this point - the Brigadista blew the surrender die roll (a '3' on 2d6) and the Italians promptly surrendered.

Meanwhile the Pearl Harbor event came up and the U.S. joined the war.  Soon American troops were flooding to Britain.  A Summer 1942 invasion of France was definitely in the cards.  At this point the Brigadista wisely threw in the towel.

The game was enjoyable, but not as much fun as our first session.

John Prados Third Reich Session Report #5

This is going to be the last session report as the game ended after two turns.

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.

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.

John Prados Third Reich Session Report #3

Last Friday the Brigadista came over and we continued our Third Reich game.

Situation: When we last left our heroes, they had completed the Summer 1941 turn. Germany has invaded the Soviet Union. Italy has conquered Greece, but is still at peace with the other major powers. Britain is making war on Vichy France and ignoring the Germans, prompting some to wonder if the British are more interested in expanding their colonial holdings than fighting fascism.

Turn 9 (Fall 1941)

Event: IRA (Britain must garrison northern Ireland with a combat unit for four turns.)

Political Activity: Italy, fresh off the conquest of Greece, declares war on Yugoslavia.

Military Activity: German forces get the jump on the Soviets and encircle two significant pockets of troops.  Massive numbers of Russians surrender.  However, little progress is made towards Moscow, prompting the Brigadista to dub my offensive Operation Barbarella.  Ouch.  Italy conquers Yugoslavia in a lightning campaign.  Damascus falls to the British.

Turn 10 (Winter 1941)

Event: Polish Rally (Polish units become available to the Soviets and British.)

Political Activity: Italy, flushed with confidence, declares war on Bulgaria.  Romania, after several turns of hostility, declares war on Germany.

Military Activity: Extreme Russian winter slows down activity on the eastern front.  More Russians are cutoff and surrender.  Russians hold firm in the Carthpathians, however, tying up large numbers of German troops.  Italian attack on Bulgaria falters.

Turn 11 (Spring 1941)

Event: Pearl Harbor (U.S. joins the war, but Britain is required to send forces to the Pacific.)

Political Activity: None

Military Activity:  Mud hampers operations on the eastern front.  Minsk is encircled and falls to the Germans.  Russians and Romanians continue to threaten the German southern flank.  The Italians conquer Bulgaria.  British forces land in French Morrocco and Algeria, which are undefended.

Session Notes:  It's amazing that Italy is still not in the war.  That's undoubtedly why things are going so well for her!  She's conquered Greece, Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria, and gained Spain as an ally.  Going into the next session, the big question is should Italy get into the war?  I suspect Germany will lose badly if I don't bring them in.  We shall see.

I think Germany has hit the high water mark.  The Russians lost a lot of units, but gained a great deal more in 1942.  Germany will be hard-pressed to expand further to the east.  The focus for Germany will be to hold on as long as possible against the Brigadistas rapidly expanding forces.

John Prados Third Reich Session Report #2

Now that the Brigadista is back in good health, we were able to play another session of our Third Reich game.  We pick up with Turn 5 (Fall 1940).  I'm playing the Axis and the Brigadista is playing the Allies.

The Situation:  France has fallen, but the Low Countries are still neutral.  Italy has declared war on Greece, but is still at peace with Britain.  The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact is about expire.  Previous session report here.

Turn 5 (Fall 1940)

Event: Italian AFV license. (Italy starts building German tank designs and can therefore upgrade all armored units to full strength.)

Political Activity: Germany declares war on Norway, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Spain becomes an Italian ally and declares war on Greece.

Military Activity: Germany invades and overwhelms Belgium and the Netherlands while the British army evacuates back to Britain.  (Perfidious Albion!)  A German combined airborne and amphibious force captures Oslo and forces Norway to surrender. Italy moves additional forces to Albania for future Greek campaign. British desert build up continues. Russia halts offensives against Finland. Spanish forces move adjacent to Gibraltar.

Turn 6 (Winter 1940)

Event: Churchill Directs! (Winston has a brilliant idea!  German player gets to make Britain do something dumb. My choices were to make Britain assault a German held port or declare war on a neutral nation. I chose to have Britain declare war on Vichy, which made Vichy a German ally. The British are required to attack Vichy territory this turn or next.)

Political Activity: Britain declares war on Vichy.

Military Activity: German forces redeploy to the eastern front. Italians launch an attrition attack against Greece and break through on the Aegean coast. Italian fleets move to base in Rhodes. Italian submarines and bombers attack Greek economy. Britain moves forces to Palestine in preparation for an attack on the Vichy colony of Syria.

Turn 7 (Spring 1941)

Event: Cross of Lorraine. (Free French volunteers flock to Britain.)

Political Activity: Hungary allies with Germany and declares war on Britain.

Military Activity: German units move into position on the Soviet border. Italian fleet destroys the Greek fleet. Italians launch amphibious invasion of Greece, landing near Salonika. Italian army cuts off all Greek units north of Athens and forces them to surrender. Italian attack on Athens fails. British attack on Damascus fails. Vichy fleet fights with Britain for control of the Western Mediterranean.

Turn 8 (Summer 1941)

Event: Yugoslavian Coup (anti-Axis elements take control of Yugoslavian government, reducing German and Italian influence in Yugoslavia.)

Political Activity: Allies successfully turn Romania and Yugoslavia hostile toward Germany and Italy. Despite some saber-rattling, neither country declares war on Germany or Italy. Germany declares war on the Soviet Union.

Military Activity: Italians capture Athens and force Greek surrender. Italian force captures Crete and establishes a naval base at Suda Bay. Germans launch operation Barbarossa. Gains are limited, although some Soviet forces are cutoff in the Baltic states and forced to surrender. Two large gaps are created in the Soviet line, one in the north and one in the south.  Vichy fleet defeated in battle for Western Mediterranean.  British attack on Damascus fails again.

Notes: It took the Italians one year to conquer Greece. Amazingly Italy and Britain are still not at war. Churchill's directive to attack Vichy was probably just as disruptive to Britain's plans as Mussolini's directive to attack Greece was to Italy's.

The Barbarossa attack wasn't particularly impressive. In fact, the Brigadista pronounced it "Barba-wussy" or something like that.  There was a decent breakthrough and exploitation in the north (leading to the isolation of Russian units in the Baltic states), but there was no exploitation in the south. Russia has a shorter front line to defend because Romania is neutral (and could go pro-Allied due to hostility towards the Germans).

Next Time:

War looms in the Balkans as both Yugoslavia and Romania are hostile to the Axis and have a 1 in 6 chance per turn of declaring war on either Germany or Italy.

The initial Barbarossa attack wasn't spectacularly impressive, but it did create some dangerous gaps that the Russians will have to deal with. Still, it's hard to imagine that Russia is in danger of falling in 1941.

Will Italy and Britain ever go to war? Right now it seems like neither the Brigadista nor I want to pay the 15 BRP cost for the declaration. Personally I'm content with the Italians building up a Mediterranean empire for now.

The Pearl Harbor chits go into the event cup starting in Fall 1941, so the U.S. could be entering the war very soon.  That will change everything.

Parting Shot

I am really enjoying this game - more than any board game in recent memory.  I can't wait to continue!  I'm sure the Brigadista will comment if I've screwed up the narrative.

From the Photo Archives - Battle of Villers Bocage in 15mm

I was digging through my photo archive and stumbled accross some photos from a Command Decision game based on the Battle of Villers Bocage that Brigadista and I played earlier this year.  The scenario came from Bob Mackenzie's excellent Command Decision website.

You might not expect Villers Bocage to give a good game, but this scenario certainly did.  In fact, of all the Command Decision games Brigadista and I played this year, this was my favorite.

Here's the scene as Wittman's Tiger bursts through the bocage, surprising a British mortor company and an armoured squadron from 7th Armoured Division.  I love this picture.

Here's the same scene from the reverse angle.  The tank is the headquarters troop of 4th County of London Yeomanry.  It would become a flaming wreck a few seconds after this picture was taken.

Here are the results a quick German dash up a road in the bocage against waiting British tanks - this action saved the British from defeat in the scenario.

Saturday Gaming - A House Divided

The Brigadista bailed on our planned Third Reich game on Friday night.  He was babbling something about being sick and Viking funerals.  It was all rather incoherent.

However, I did get in part of a game of A House Divided with the Future Poltergeist.  (Yes, my friends are real people with real names.)  I have the Phalanx Games edition of the game and it's been sitting on my shelf for a few years.  A House Divided is considered to be a classic of sorts and I've really meant to get around to playing it.  It was designed by Frank Chadwick and I generally like his games.

If I had to sum up the game in a phrase, it would be "simple without being simplistic."  It was easy to get into the game and it played quickly.  It confronts players with different strategies and paths to victory.  My favorite aspect of the game is the unit promotion system.  All units start at militia quality, but can be promoted to veteran or crack.  Every time you win a battle, you can promote one of the participants.  This feature gives a very nice feeling of building up your army over the course of the game, both in terms of quantity and quality.

Unfortunately we had to cut the game short because the Future Poltergeist's back started bothering him and he couldn't continue.  Apparently the seating arrangements in my gaming bunker are not to his liking.  What does he expect, ergonomic gaming chairs???

Look for a more complete review of A House Divided in the future.

John Prados Third Reich Session Report #1

About a year ago the Brigadista and I separately talked ourselves into buying John Prados Third Reich. Actually the Brigadista went whole hog and purchased Third Reich, the Third Reich Deluxe Map, Great Pacific War, the Third Reich/Great Pacific War Player's Guide, and (later) the Rumors of War supplement. Avalanche Press may have also sold him a used car and/or a bridge in Brooklyn. I was content with Third Reich and the Deluxe Map.

Third Reich, for those who don't know, is a strategic-level game of the Second World War in Europe. It was originally published by Avalon Hill in the 1970's. The Avalanche Press version evolved from the original Avalon Hill version, but the mechanics are very different. Boardgame Geek has an excellent overview of the game as well as some detailed reviews. (Be aware that the current version of the Third Reich rules is 3.0. Many of the reviews on Boardgame Geek reflect earlier versions of the rules, which frankly weren't very good. I plan to post a detailed review after our first complete game.)

Brigadista and I are in the midst of our first playing of the game. This is a long game and in our first session we managed to get through four turns in about four hours. I'm sure it will go faster as we become more familiar with the rules. I'm playing the Axis and Brigadista the Allies. Here's a report of our first session.

Turn 1 (Fall 1939)

Event: Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (Each turn you draw a chit for a random political event. The Molotov-Ribbentrop pact divided eastern Europe between Russia and Germany and guaranteed at least a year of peace between the two powers.)

Poltical Activity: None

Military Activity: Germany invades and overwhelms Poland. France launches a limited attack on Germany. Other powers build units from their force pool.

Turn 2 (Winter 1940)

Event: French Mass Strike (French Communists strike, causing significant damage to the French economy.)

Political Activity: Finland, angry with the loss of Karelia due to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, declares war on Russia.

Military Activity: Another French attack on Germany. German forces move west. Italians build up in Libya. Britain builds up.

Turn 3 (Spring 1940)

Event: Fuhrer Directive (This event represents Hitler's meddling in military affairs. The net impact was that the German offensive against France was totally disrupted for this turn.)

Political Activity: Germany declares war on Denmark.

Military Activity: Germany occupies Denmark and launches a costly attack on the Maginot Line. Another French limited attack on Germany. Britain and Italy build up in the desert. Russia launches costly (and completely unsuccessful) assaults on Finland.

Turn 4 (Summer 1940)

Event: Mussolini is Always Right! (Italy is forced to declare war on either Greece or Yugoslavia; Britain gets to choose which).

Political Activity: Germany declares war on Luxembourg. Italy declares war on Greece.

Military Activity: German armored forces launch a two echelon assault on France through Luxembourg. The initial echelon, with massive air support, seizes Sedan. The second echelon passes through the first and attacks and occupies Paris. France surrenders and Vichy is established. Italy moves forces from Libya to Albania to prepare for eventual Greek offensive. Italians terror bomb Athens. Russia launches another unsuccessful assault on Finland.

Notes: Germany intended to declare war on Norway, but completely forgot to do so during the Declarations of War phase! 

The game has a unique sequence of play for military operations. Each country purchases chits for each offensive they wish to perform during the turn. The chits are then randomly drawn so that you don't know the sequence of actions. This is an interesting game mechanic with some advantages and disadvantages. You can choose headquarters offensives (units within four hexes of the selected headquarters may move and attack), naval actions, air actions, or attrition. Germany, Russia, and the US have the option to purchase a general offensive once per year that allows unlimited activity.

The German attack on France was accomplished by purchasing two headquarters offensives. The first headquarters activated an group of armored units for the assault on Sedan. The second headquarters activated a second group of armored units to pass through Sedan and attack Paris. Each unit may only activate once per turn.

End of Session

The first year of play ended with roughly historical results. Poland and France have fallen. An interesting twist is that the Low Countries are still neutral. Italy was on the verge of declaring war on Britain and attacking Egypt, but was completely disrupted by Mussolini's insistence on war with Greece.

Brigadista and I both liked the random political events. They threw some curveballs at us and made us change our plans on the fly. In this game, you can't count on everything going strictly according to your carefully made plans.

There are some interesting choices to be made in the Fall of 1940. Will Britain declare war on Italy to support the Greeks? Will Germany overrun the Low Countries? Did I mention that the BEF was stuck in France and needs to march to a port if they want to go home? Plus the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact expires! How's that for a cliffhanger?

Next game is Friday night, so look for another session report this weekend.