A Bridge Just Right and Hitler's long hot summer of pain

 Japan launches 4 light carriers with rubbish planes.  The powerful Kwantung motorised infantry forms in Manchuria. The Allies do not have many units arriving on the board apart from Commonwealth and American planes  (the US has 3 fighters and a medium bomber, the Commonwealth has a Spitfire). Hitler gets to deploys his SS tank army gets to redeploy in West Poland. His new infantry is split between east and west fronts but his two new fighters go to the Ruhr on the West.  The Italians deploy an Alpini mountain troops, a powerful infantry guards corps plus a fighter near the border with the Alps. Hitler scraps an old Dornier ground attack plane to provide 1 Build point for later - the Germans have given up on the idea of naval invasions. 

The Allies win initiative. The weather is Fine everywhere except Stormy in the North monsoon zone. Churchill and Roosevelt both chooses a no-cost combined impulse. The US and Royal Navies transports many US troops across the Atlantic. S Churchill sends two medium bombers to ground strike the Italian HQ and German infantry just north of the Dyle. The heavy Royal Artillery disorganises the panzer division and Italian paratroopers in Liege. The best German and US fighters duel in the sky and the RAF gets through and disorganises their targets.  Next the Allies sends in both US & British paratrooper corps on transport planes to attack the hex just bombed - Roosevelt again sends in mass fighter cover and a medium bomber. There is a mass dogfight which results in the US, Germany and Italy losing a fighter (all pilots survive) and both sides getting bomber support. Montgomery HQ uses Offensive Points to double 3 units, armour bonus for blitz combat, HQ bonus and the marine engineer to allow one armour unit to attack ignoring the river penalty. He rolls well destroying both the Italian HQ and German infantry corps. The paratroopers occupy their hex and seize the bridges allowing. Canadian Tank Army to cross the Dyle and the mighty Rhine and cut off Axis units in the Netherlands and pose a risk to the Ruhr. There is a risk that the Germans can attack either Monty or the paratroopers and cut off the Tank army. This is uncharacteristic of the cautious Monty but after two short Turns because of bad weather there is enormous political pressure to get a wriggle on and invade Germany. Gort HQ flips over to reorganise the Mosquito and Typhoon.

The reinforcements from the US (land units and a medium bomber) move across France towards the front line. In the Pacific a transport ships a fighter from the US to Pearl Harbour. Subs set out to to try to sink the convoys supplying Rabaul. They fail to find them in the Bismarck Sea. In the Solomons a US sub dodges the Japanese air cover and damages the convoy there. Eisenhower reorganises 4 fighters and is reorganised himself with offensive points. Hitler gloomily notes all those damned fighters. Stalin chooses a Land Impulse. He rearranges his forces for a cheeky attempt on Konigsberg and chases down the Rumanian defenders. He sends a Sturmovik and medium bomber to ground strike the Kongisberg defenders. Only one gets through the German fighters and one corps is disorganised. In the ground combat Zhukov adds his offensive bonus. With Yaks acting as fighter bombers and the Germans supported by biplane ground attack aircraft the attack is skilfully conducted and both defenders are destroyed with no loss to the attackers. The royal capital of East Prussia has fallen. Hitler shoots some generals in a rage. In Rumania a massive concentric attack destroys a Rumanian infantry corps and the Cavalry Mechanised group passes into the space. Large Soviet forces assault the  Rumania Antonescu HQ and mechanised corps. Soviet Sturmoviks aid the ground attack. In the dogfight the Rumanian fighters get shot down. In the ground combat Stalin sends a Hero to the Soviet Union to the Vatutin HQ as the Rumanian HQ and mechanised corps are destroyed for the cost of a militia corps and anti tank division with one militia corps disorganised. There is a massive breach in Rumanian defences. Historically this type of situation led to Rumania switching sides but not in the rules of this game.France chooses a Naval impulse. Its transport delivers the Commonwealth carrier fighter to Calicut near Ceylon. It can move to join the Royal Navy carrier fleet later. Subs try to find the charmed Japanese tanker in the Bay of Bengal and completely miss it.  China choses a Land impulse. The Communists launch an attack on the tank corps in Langchow and this time destroy it for the loss of a garrison army. Chiang Shek wants the Nationalists to get their own glory and launch an attack on Kweihan but the storm weather puts him off.

Hitler chooses a Land impulse. He retreats his forces in Rumania facing the Soviets into rough terrain so that their one hex zone of control acting as a barrier to slow down Soviet attackers for one impulse. Rumanian weak forces in Bucharest move to guard the oilfields at Ploesti to make room for German reinforcements to arrive in Bucharest by rail next Impulse. In Poland he launches a massive attack on the western edge of the Soviet front line south west of Lodz. Manstein is going to organise a massive attack on the paratrooper bridge between the Dyle and Rhine. Firstly, he sends Stukas with fighter escort to ground strike the paratroopers- he won't need the disorganisation bonus he thinks but he wants them to be stuck there in a difficult position and unable to be withdrawn. The US Air Force sends up mass fighters shooting down a weak Bf109 (the pilot is lost) and the Stukas are rebuffed. He rail moves an infantry corps to Dortmund. Manstein moves to Liege and moves a Stug self propelled artillery unit, an infantry corps to across the Dyle from the paratroopers.  The Liege hex is overstacked. Hitler apologises to Mussolini and destroys the Italian paratrooper corps there. Hitler uses his Offensive Points to have a supercharged attack with doubled units. He's determined to smash the paratroopers with his armour and HQ bonuses and his strength of forces. In defence the RAF sends in Tempest fighter bombers whose ground attack bonus gets doubled by fighting armour and some heavy bombers. Hitler sends in a Bf110 to intercept and the RAF respond with a Spitfire. The Bf110 gets shot down and the pilot dies but aborts the Spitfire. The attack goes in and Manstein forces the paratroopers to retreat back across the Dyle and an infantry corps and Stug artillery advance into the gap (the infantry and Manstein HQ disorganised). The Canadian Tank Army is now surrounded! The cost is heavy (two lost fighters and an Italian paratrooper corps) but Hitler sends the Iron Cross to Manstein.

 Now the ball is in the court of the Allies to rescue the stranded tank army. On the Eastern front the SS mechanised Panzer army with support destroys a Soviet militia army and Polish infantry corps. Hitler is jubilant. "We can win the war!" he insists. 

Mussolini chooses a naval impulse. He sends his naval escorts out and planes and subs into the Eastern Med. The Hurricane flies out to protect the convoy but nobody finds each other. Hirohito calls a no-cost combined impulse. He moves the Kido Butai to Japan and uses his air moves to rebase aircraft from the mainland onto spare carrier space. He groups his new 4 light carriers into a Strike Force fleet to use to reinforce in the future. Even though his tank corps is destroyed he moves his infantry with a supply unit  into position to where they can aid an attack on the northern flank of the line. They use a build point to  move a marine division by fast cruiser to where they think the US will launch a paratrooper attack. 

Weather is Fine all over. Stalin chooses a Land Impulse. He ground strikes the SS Mechanised Panzer army with Shturmoviks and artillery disorganising two SS mech corps. The German fighters are busy trying to stop a Pe2 bomber ground strike on the Rommel HQ and infantry corps but are shot down with the pilot killed. (Heavy Luftwaffe losses this Turn but Hitler consoles himself he can rebuild the fighters). Enough bombers get through the 88mm flak to disorganise the infantry corps.  Red army units advance into the ZOC barrier in Rumania and move units to start moving around the German mountain shelf.  defences of Hungary. A powerful tank and mechanised attack goes into Rommel with support of Timoshenko HQ. Rommel and the infantry corps are blitzed and will return next Turn but the Soviets avoid casualties and the Tank armies burst through. Hitler's burst of enthusiasm punctures.  Churchill chooses a no-cost combined impulse. De Gaulle chooses a Land. The RAF sends Mosquitos and Lancasters to ground strike the Germans north of Antwerp. They succeed in disorganising them. Next the Marines go to sea in a Landing craft with HMS Warspite battleship to provide shore bombardment. The Germans send a naval aircraft to intercept the Royal navy but they fail to find them. The French send their armoured corps to join the British tank corps and engineers. The two tank corps attack Rotterdam over the bridge (with the support of Typhoon fighter bombers and USAF heavy bombers) the disorganised Germans whilst the Marines invade from the sea with battleship support. In the resulting carnage the marines successfully land in Rotterdam joined by the British tank corps and engineers and one German corps will return next Turn having been blitzed and one is destroyed The Canadian Tank army is no longer cut off! Two new carrier planes rebase onto the Glorious carrier. Hitler becomes gloomier. That damned air power of the Western and Soviet Allies!

Hitler awaits a continued pounding from the US and is relieved by Roosevelt choosing a Naval impulse. Escorts move out into the oceans. Convoys move into the Pacific including the Timor Sea and Bismarck Sea. Fighters and bombers move towards bases in the Pacific. Marines board amphibious ships and join the Pacific Fleet in the Timor Sea. Where will they attack? Cruisers move from the US towards the Pacific. Two transports move from France to Washington. A transport moves from Hawaii to the West coast of USA. The latest P38 fighter bomber moves to Northern Ireland. Heavy bombers ground strike the panzer corps stacked with Manstein and disorganise it. The entire stack is disorganised now. It's going to be hard for Germany to throw back the Allied bridgehead in the Netherlands.

Mussolini chooses a no-cost combined impulse. He sends a frogmen unit against the US fleet at Algiers but it gets destroyed because it can't get enough surprise points to escape the carrier air planes. He moves fighters and ground units towards the Italy-France border. Hitler asks him to rail move units towards Rumania but given Hitler destroyed an Italian paratrooper corps by over-stacking Mussolini says no. Hirohito chooses a Naval impulse. He considers moving Yamamoto away from Rabaul but changes his mind. He movs out the escorts for the convoys. He sees the Yankee build up south of Indonesia and is worried about them attacking his vital oil fields or seizing Surabaya a major port. By air and sea he transports marine and infantry divisions to protect unguarded oil fields and a marine corps to Surabaya. He decides to pressurise the Royal Navy carrier fleet Force H fearing it will become too powerful for him soon by sailing into the Bay of Bengal and so able to port strike Force H in Sri Lanka next impulse. Subs are sent to the Timor Sea - Japan hopes their presence will put off any amphibious invasions or battleship support of invasions as any ships performing these roles go to the 0 box which makes them vulnerable to subs. Hitler chooses a Land impulse. He moves forces around to stop his Carpathians line being outflanked. He rail moves a garrison corps to Dusseldorf. The infantry corps in Dusseldorf moves to occupy a resource hex largely surrounded by the Rhine. Panzer corps and Rundstedt HQ move by road towards Bucharest. Panzer and mechanised corps move by rail and arrive at Bucharest. The Germans are moving large amounts of mechanised forces towards Rumania to protect the oil fields. There is going to be more panzer and mechanised forces in Rumania then on the entire Western front. Is this a mistake? are those forces better used elsewhere? In North Poland German forces pull back behind the Vistula. Guderian flips over to reorganise the SS Mechanised Panzer army stack of units. 

The weather is fine everywhere except the North Monsoon zone where it is rainy. This time the Commonwealth chooses a Naval impulse as there is a slight chance that the Axis can all pass their chance to take an Impulse and if they roll a 1 the Turn ends. Then if the Axis get initiative next Turn they can attack unprotected Commonwealth convoys. Escorts move out including to protect US convoys in the Pacific. Transports move across the Atlantic and Pacific towards the US. Carrier fleet Force H sails out into the Arabian Gulf and is joined by newly arrived Fulmar Fairy carrier fighters. Ark Royal carrier leaves the fleet sailing around the African Cape of Good Hope without any planes on it to collect newly built carrier planes. The Netherlands transport sails to the Red Sea to pick up an Engineering division and the LRDG division. In China the Nationalist cavalry corps joins Stillwell on the front line. Stalin surprises by calling a no-cost Combined impulse. He sends a bomber to search for convoys in the Baltics (it's only a 1 air to sea factor though) along with a sub. He moves up forces to Vistula apart from one hex where he cannot move up strong enough forces. He sends a powerful medium bomber to ground strike the SS Panzer Mechanised army and manages to disorganise one corps. Soviet strategic bombers move to Rumania. They are in a position to strike the oilfields with strategic bombing. The Soviets fail to find any convoys. Nice idea shame it didn't work. Still Hitler is going to have to call a no-cost combined impulse as he won't have any convoy escorts next Turn and if Stalin does find the convoys and sinks them then the German resource crisis will only worsen. Roosevelt chooses a no-cost Combined Impulse. He moves some ground forces in Northern France closer to the front line. In the Pacific he could land on East Timor with no opposition as there is no supply line to garrison. He decides to attack Makassar with paratroopers and marine corps with a battleship and cruiser support. Despite the rocky terrain the garrison are destroyed in an assault and the paratroopers are disorganised. Now the US can seize other ports in Indonesia and then march overland towards the oil fields. The US tries a strategic bombing raid but no damage results. In the Pacific air units move round the Pacific to bases in Australia, Papua New Guinea and even Makassar in Indonesia. Japan has fighters coming in next Turn. They will have to send these fighters and maybe a Zero from South Asia to start combating these Yankee air forces or they start cutting off vital oil supplies. Worst case the US set up their special transport units at bases which can allow minor ports to house more naval units than the usual 3. With Makassar it will be like having a major port on the South China Sea and threaten an important waterway for resources to Japan. De Gaulle passes as he has little to do.

Hitler chooses a no-cost Combined Impulse. He sends escorts out for his Baltic convoys. His subs lurking in the US East Coast and Caribbean sea areas come and try to attack. In the Caribbean the subs and the Yankee naval aircraft find each other with the Yankees having an advantage. They damage one u-boat and send the other back to base.  In the US East coast both sides do not find each other. Hitler sends 2 u-boats each to the Bay of Biscay and North Sea. He's given up on strategic warfare and just wants to cut the supply lines of the Commonwealth and US to France. To Hitler's frustration his u-boats fail to find any targets but he has one u-boat on each sea zone still active. He can keep them at sea, dropping down one sea box but able to intercept any ships passing through the zone in future.  Hitler withdraws v Leeb HQ from the front line and replaces with two Bulgarian corps in the mountains. He flips Rundstedt HQ over and reorganises a motorised grenadier corps in the mountain and Panzer Army Rumania in Bucharest. Mussolini chooses a no-cost Combined impulse. He sends subs into the Bay of Biscay. He searches for convoys in the Bay of Biscay and East Med but fails. He moves his Alpini corps and Royal Guards infantry corp into the Alps guarding the rear of his front line in SW France. Hirohito chooses a no-cost Combined impulse too. He moves his Strike fleet of 4 light carriers to Trukk in the Central west Pacific. Next Turn he can sail out from there to threaten US supply lines in the Pacific. He makes the garrison in Kweihan stronger. He sails a Marine corps from Philippines to Balikpapan in Dutch East Indies to join the motorised infantry division there in case the US lands next to that hex and then attacks it later to seize the port and oil field. 

Weather is Fine except the N Monsoon zone where it is rainy. Stalin plays another joker and calls a no-cost Combined. He sails his Baltic Sea Fleet into the Baltic sea. Hitler sends a naval aircraft to defend the convoys. The Baltic Sea Fleet finds their opponents. They can choose to attack the convoys or the escorts in the 1 box.  They can avoid the an air combat just. Stalin decides on a sub attack even though it will risk a damaged sub as what he wants is to send the convoys out of the sea zone. The sub survives the damage roll and is only sent back to base along with a German light cruiser and the 3 transports. Having achieved his aim Stalin aborts his units out of the Baltic Sea. Hitler will now to call another no-costs Combined impulse to get his convoys into theBaltic Sea. Stalin now targets the oil fields with two strategic bombers and a fighter escort. In yet another miserable episode this Turn for the Luftwaffe the superior Bf109 Emil is shot down by the lend lease Hurricane. The Soviet heavy bombers get the second best result they could and destroy 3 oil resources for this Turn. Hitler drains the schnapps in his bunker. Stalin rings Bomber Harris to boast. Soviet forces move into attack positions near Katowice but want to wait to bring further units up. 

France, UK and the US call Land impulses. p38 fighter bombers disorganise the German self propelled artillery division. The US which hasn't fought any Land combat this Turn in the West transfers forces to face the weak Hungarian corps manning the southern tip of the German line. Eisenhower calls an Offensive points boosted doubling offensive.value which is then halved by the river. Even though he rolls badly he gets the maximum result due to the overwhelming odds. He spends all but one of his remaining Offensive points to reorganise Eisenhower as he races forward 2 hexes. The German line is outflanked to the South with nothing between Eisenhower and Munich but 2 hexes of woods. Hitler drinks all the wine in the bunker. The German forces in Amsterdam are obliterated by a powerful attack. The Canadian tank corps seizes the Netherlands resources hex. The US masses one tank army in NE France and sends one mechanised corps to East France to support the breakthrough near the Swiss border. France moves one mechanised corps northwards so that it can join the mechanised corps on the border with Netherlands to create 1st French Tank Army. The left hook is becoming overwhelming whilst the right jab to Munich is less strong but unguarded. Commonwealth land units move towards the border with Burma. Australian infantry units get disorganised by the terrain costs of rainy weather. Mountbatten HQ flips over to reorganise them. Chinese Nationalists move their mechanised corps to overlook Kweihans. The Turn continues giving Hitler a chance to turn things round. 

Hitler wakes up with a banging headache. He wants to turn back time and stick one on Stalin. He thinks wistfully of when Rommel got a bridgehead over the Dnepr before being thrown back. He feels sick but looks at the big map. He makes a phone call to il Duce and pleads for reinforcements for Munich. Hitler points out the Allies can swing south from Munich and head for the Alps on the Austrian/ Italy border and outflank their defences in France. Strictly speaking I think the game rules forbid Italy from entering Germany but for narrative reasons I will allow it. The Soviets have taken East Prussia but the US is in the main body of Germany. Up to 6 resources are lost compared to last Turn. Hitler can get 3 back but will have to call a no-cost Combined Impulse to sail out his convoys. Hitler sends 3 convoys to get much needed Swedish steel. He's desperate and doesn't know how long he's got so he sends his Atlantic fleet to the North Atlantic to try and trash the convoys to the UK. They evade the Royal Navy in the North Sea. They are joined by a naval aircraft in the North Sea. In the first round they can't avoid the carrier planes. The nimrods drive off the naval aircraft. Hitler gets cold feet and sends his fleet back. Precious fuel has been wasted. He rail moves militia from Kiel to Munich. Other infantry near Hamburg moves to Bremen to help protect the gap in North Germany not protected by the Rhine. He moves infantry away from the French border to to try to slow down the US advance in the south. He moves the German infantry away from the threatening Soviet armour near Katowice but leaves a potential gap - Hitler considers abandoning the Balkans.  Mussolini chooses a Land impulse. He rail moves the Graziani HQ to the Austrian border with Italy to help guard Italy's northern flank. He flies his best fighter unit to Trieste to provide cover for Graziani. He moves a motorised infantry corp by road from France to Northern Italy in transit to the Austrian border. Hirohito chooses a no-cost combined. He moves troops towards Lanchow. He moves a bomber to where it can support Kweihan. Another bomber moves to Netherlands East Indies. His subs try to find the US ships in the 0 box in the Timor Sea zone but fail. Now Hitler hopes for a 2 or less to end the Turn and gets a...8! 

Weather is fine except for North Monsoon zone where it is Stormy. The Western Allies choose Land impulse. US 2nd Tank Army led by Eisenhower surround the Munich militia and destroy it. Nothing is between the Yanks and Nuremberg and the gap in the German southern line is expanding. In NE France the Canadian Tank Army grabs the Netherlands resource hex and arrives in the outskirts of Dortmund. UK, French and US forces continue to move round the salient of German forces. A combined triple nation armoured assault with fighter bomber support destroys the infantry division and Sig33 self propelled  artillery division. Hitler receives the news with a bitter smile. In India the Australian infantry move towards the Burma front. This time Alexander flips over so one disorganised Australian corps can keep moving next Impulse. China passes. Stalin chooses a Land impulse. He pushes armour into the gap left by the Germans near Katowice. He thinks of attacking Lodz but instead gathers 6 units near the NE corner of the German line at the Carpathians. He launches an attack - both sides supported by bombers - and the resultant bloodbath sees two dead Soviet militia armies, two disorganised militia armies but crucially the German infantry corps is destroyed too. Stalin cares not for the many Soviet dead. He's cracked the Carpathian line and poised to attack Hungary and Czechoslavakia. The Turn just fails to end with a 4.

Hitler begs Mussolini and Hirohito to pass. He needs the Turn to end and this will give them a 50% chance to achieve this after the Axis Impulse. Hitler concentrates his Panzer Armee Rumania to attack 9th Guards infantry Army with the help of Bulgarian air support. He retreats in the Carpathians. He pulls back forces to Breslau as he is unable to stop the Soviet tank armies near Katowice. He rail moves from the border with France the siege guns to Munich and the SS garrison corps and infantry corps to Nuremberg. He moves other forces to take their place. Hitler prays to Wotan and rolls hoping to end the Turn. He just makes it with a 5 thanks to the other Axis passing their chance to be active this Impulse. 

No partisans arrive. Units return to Base except the u-boats at sea who drop down one box in each sea zone except the milchow u-boat in the US East coast which goes into the 0 box. The Soviets get only a 1 value Offensive marker on their border with Japanese territory. For Production i found it I have been forgetting to count Bulgaria's resource for almost 2 years. To compensate i give Germany 7 OPs, a new Gross Deutschland Panzer corps, a mechanised corps and a Bf109 fighter unit to arrive next Turn in Germany's hour of need. Sorry Germany!

China starts producing 5 offensive points and a good Nationalist infantry army. France starts producing 2 engineers. Italy produces its last FTR2 and Mechanised corps. Stalin boosted by build points from destroyed armies finishes off 4 mechanised corps this Turn (Hitler wails), begins an engineer, 3 ski divisions (Winter is coming) and Vasilevsky HQ. Japanese spies note a sub being laid down in the Pacific Shipyards. No Western Ally strategic bombing this turn (they were used in the ground support role) plus 5 build points from destroyed units has meant German production is bad not disastrous. This allows Germany to complete Hungarian and Rumanian mechanised and armoured corps respectively as well as calling out all 6 available Volksgrenadier militia corps and begin two fighters. 

Churchill is blessed with resources and boasts to Hitler about this. He saves 4 oil. He builds an eclectic mix of units- Japan notes that a (middling strength) artillery division is being completed in Calcutta and that a NAV2 US Lend lease plane is also being formed in Calcutta. It's a middling ground attack plane too. Hitler notes 2 mechanised corps being rush built. Hirohito also flush with resources saves 4 oil but in his case that means he doesn't use full production. He is worried the Allies will damage his supply lines with US subs in forward bases so is hoarding oil as a precaution. He starts building Musashi heavy battleship. Carriers are built and planes for the ready carriers. 2 Armoured corps and an armoured division are begun at a slow pace. The Japanese are preparing for mobile warfare in Manchuoko or perhaps Northern China. Fighters are being churned out to compete with the plentiful US fighters in the Pacific.The US buy lots of Offensive Points (20) and a broad mix of air and land units for the Western front including a Canadian Mosquito ready for next Turn. For the Pacific apart from land and air units there are carriers, carrier planes and a sub as well as tankers and convoys. Two mechanised corps are rush built to be completed for next Turn. 

Both the Netherlands and Belgium are liberated. The US gains 2 intelligence points. The Germans destroy the factory in Liege and destroy 2 oil facilities in Rumania leaving only 1 left. Hitler's long terrible summer is over.