Europe 1940+ Expansion Test Game (Dan/Kyle vs Twilight/Victoria/CdeG)

Greetings
This month we are testing an unnecessarily complicated A&A Europe 1940 spinoff. I’ll save you the headache of explaining any further and instead show you what it looks like. You’ll have to excuse the fact I have the boards split. Life has been crazy.

Turn 1

Germany takes Normamdy and Paris, but does lose a lot of infantry and a plane.  Dan (playing as Germany, Hungary, and Finland) managed to sink all of the British navy and even have 5 sea units floating in the Atlantic.  Even after British and Candian counterattacks, 2 German subs are still alive. He built an aircraft carrier and added a battleship and a cruiser from the Baltic Sea.  In the east, a massive German stack is in Poland, and Hungary and Finland have received German garrisons.

Since Germany didn’t attack Yugoslavia, Hungary tried to and actually had very good luck, picking up an extra 2 IPCs.

Finland is not an Axis power and operates under special rules. For instance, Finish control of Leningrad does not count as a victory city for the Axis.

Victoria (playing as the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia) left a surprising number of Russian troops on the border and threatened Finland. If Germany goes for Sea Lion, it might be over for them. The Soviets are allowed to attack neutral territories like Turkey in this variant.  Persia is a neutral nation now as well.

The U.S. can also attack neutrals, but must keep its sea units adjacent to original American territories.  Twilight (playing as the United States and the Commonwealth) sent a couple men to Central America, eyeing the IPCs available in the south.  Since this variant gives the Axis a lot more enemies to fight, the U.S. is not allowed to declare war until the collect income phase of turn 5.

The Commonwealth (an independent entity representing Canada, South Africa, and ANZAC) lost a Candian destroyer and transport and can’t safely send any help across the Atlantic until we sink those subs. I, Charles de Gaulle, (representing the United Kingdom, France, and Greece) did send a cruiser and transport to Canada to help their new destroyer Twilight built.
In Africa, the Commonwealth sent men to East Africa and sank an Italian submarine.  Those poor Italians there are really surrounded now.

As the United Kingdom, I want to tempt Dan to try Sea Lion. I got bad luck sinking a German destroyer and cruiser by Scotland and lost 2 planes.  I also decided to be cautious in the Mediterranean and only sank 1 of the 3 Italian fleets. Italy is quite strong in this variant, but does have to deal with the French in the west and the Greeks in the east. I sent my battleship to Ethiopia and destroyed the Italians there. I left my carrier by Gibraltar for flexibility and will wait to see what Germany does. I have the French and Greek fleets to distract Italy for now and can regroup next round.

Greece begins the game neutral and can’t do anything until turn 3 unless it’s attacked.

Bulgaria has a “micro” industrial complex.  These can build 2 infantry or 1 of any other unit (except bombers and capital ships).

Yugoslavia deployed a partisan.  This annoying unit spawns every turn and must be destroyed by the Axis in order to maintain free passage through the territory and the 2 IPCs.

Kyle (playing as Italy, Bulgaria, and Romania) took advantage of my conservative British attacks and sent his smaller ships and planes after the French and Greek navies. The Italians easily destroyed the partisan infantry in Yugoslavia, and Greece was absolutely crushed by an attack by land and sea. However, Kyle left Southern France alone.  I believe it was a big mistake. Interestingly, he’s sent his army in Libya to attack Tunisia and left the Egyptian front as a standstill like I did. The two Italian units left in Somalia are doomed.

For France, I was very excited to fight hard. Kyle not attacking Southern France let me destroy Dan’s German survivors in Normandy. I sent up help from West Africa to Morocco and made a stand in Algeria against the Italians. I have a small fleet by Gibraltar now. My fighter escaped to London to help out there, and other scattered units are going to help in Egypt.

Please note that some units are from other games since we have so many countries. Neutral nations are independent of each other and get their own armies. Some things might look a little confusing, like Soviet units being used to represent Chile or Japanese ones being used to represent Sweden and Spain. But they’re all independent nations.  If you see a 1914 artillery upside down, that’s what I’m using as a AA gun for some minor powers.  I like mods, but I have also invested very little into them, as you can see.

Turn 2

Dan launched a combined amphibious assault and overland attack on my French units in Normandy with the Kriegsmarine. His navy now sits in the English channel. Germany also made an enormous Battle of Britain and caused massive damage (21 total to all three facilities). It came at the cost of a tactical and strategic bomber, but Germany still has 13 planes. Armored units have been sent eastward to Germany and Yugoslavia, making it obvious what will happen next turn to the Soviets. Romania isn’t empty. That stack of German, Italian, Hungarian, and Romanians you see in the Indian Ocean is the large international force there.

Hungary removed its forces from Yugoslavia in preparation for an attack on the USSR.

Finland faces way more Soviet forces on its border than it can handle alone, but Dan sent a significant German arctic army to assist them.

Despite Germany having 3 transports in the Baltic Sea, its navy is in no position to attack the Soviets. Victoria might be able to hold Leningrad for a little while, but that massive stack in Poland could easily march north. I asked her why she left 12 infantry on border territories. With Germany relying so much on minor powers now, she said she hopes to attract some small battles and counterattack weak parts of the front. It does look like the Axis are going to attack all along the front and not pile too much into single territories. We’ll see how that goes next round.

The United States has invaded Colombia in preparation for taking over Venezuela. Oil jokes were made. Even though we are letting the Americans invade neutrals, Twilight cannot activate Brazil with American units since the USA isn’t considered to be an Allied power yet. Moving into Brazil would actually require fighting those Brazilian forces.

Canada has finally set sail. The two German subs in the Atlantic went after my British destroyer between Greenland and Iceland. This move enabled Twilight to send a Canadian bomber and destroyer after them. We are now using the Arctic Ocean to ferry Canadian troops with some aid of the Royal Navy.
Commonwealth forces in East Africa crushed Somalia. They haven’t lost anything here yet and now have a decent army to send north to fight in Egypt. Their destroyer and tactical bomber are already there helping me immensely.

The massive damage to London would have concerned me if Germany had built more than 4 transports and not made it obvious that the USSR was their priority. For the British, I still played it safe though and made a huge stack of infantry in the UK. The Mediterranean was way more exciting. I decided to combine all my naval units outside Egypt and challenge the Italians. Kyle could have tried attacking this, but it was extremely close odds and likely would have been gone to whoever rolled more luckily. I took out Iraq without much difficulty and set myself up to invade Persia next round. Egypt looks safe, but…

Italy did something I should have seen coming. Kyle took over Malta to invalidate my empire NO, but since there’s an air base there in this variant, he can rely on German planes coming to cover his fleet. He only has 7 units in Libya though, and it’s going to take way more than that to make up for all the Allies that can converge on Egypt. Italy sent an army to the Eastern Front and built some more small ships.

One thing I didn’t mention earlier was the fact Dan did not take Southern France as Germany. While I understand he might have wanted to save Italy some money, there was an Italian submarine in SZ93 that could have reached my British fleet outside Egypt had the naval base there been Axis. It would have swayed my decision to make a stand with the Royal Navy.

Bulgaria replaced Italy as the occupier of Greece. Bulgaria can also “donate” units to other Axis powers since they aren’t really able to fight all that much (can’t declare war on the USSR). They are best used to keep Yugoslavia in check and Greece defended.

Romania actually began the war in the east with a full-scale attack on Bessarabia. Unlike Hungary and Finland, Romania moves after the Soviet Union in the turn order and can declare war before Germany does and set up can-openers. We will have to see how much the Axis reinforce the Romanians here, otherwise Victoria is going to send the Russkies to crush them.

Italy took Southern France, and much to my disappointment, also Algeria. While I realized I would likely fail here, Kyle only sent his 4 land units in Tunisia and 1 bomber from Italy against my 4 in Algeria and still only lost 2 units. I had hoped to distract more air power or take down most of his army.

I felt obligated to make another stand in Morocco and sent my fighter from the UK to assist. If he wants to get the North Africa NO, he’ll have to send more than just his remaining 2 fast units and a bomber next time. With the French navy, I scattered it quite a bit. One destroyer went north to sink a German sub by Wales. My 2 submarines are in the Mediterranean in convoy zones. I’ll either distract Italian destroyers or get some IPCs off Kyle. I also have a cruiser guarding Gibraltar and Morocco from a possible attack by sea. A French transport went to Canada to help further with getting men across the Atlantic.

These first two turns were tremendously fun, and the Eastern Front looks ready to explode.

Turn 3

To kill the Canadian bomber in Scotland, Dan launched a small amphibious assault there against very little resistance. This took most of the German fleet away from being able to attack the USSR, but 2 transports and some smaller ships are still near Denmark and landed 4 new units in Norway. This included 2 fast divisions to reinforce the artic army in Finland. An attack on Karelia was very costly for the Germans. The much broader assault on the USSR’s western border surprised me. Instead of putting most of his force in the north or south, Dan sent almost all of his mobile units to Eastern Poland and only took the Baltic States with a small army. Bessarabia is not empty. The pile of units in the Indian Ocean is the large international force there, including some Germans. Both Romania and Finland have received German air support to protect against potential bombings they wouldn’t have the IPCs to be able to repair.

Finland took Vyborg easily and reinforced the artic army in Karelia.

Hungary has assumed a support role and is acting as a deterrent to Soviet counterattacks.

Victoria attacked the Baltic States (the weakest link in the Axis advances) with the Soviets. To prevent an Italian or Romanian can-opener, she was forced to leave some troops in Belarus. Leningrad is holding on by a razor’s edge, but half the German fleet being outside Scotland might make it last another round or two. A cruiser in the Baltic Sea prevents an attack on Leningrad from the west, but an attack through the White Sea in the north is still possible. Ukraine has been consolidated to hold another round. Even though the Germans have a large force in the center that could theoretically march on Moscow, one disadvantage to Germany having to rely on minor powers is the necessity of split attacks. The Soviets can defend in mass, but the Axis cannot attack together. The USSR also took Northwestern Persia, which might seem silly, but we have a house rule that allows Allied lend-lease units to be converted to Soviet ones once they’re on Soviet controlled territory.

The Americans continued their South American adventure and took Peru without loss. Venezuela was much more bloody though. Chile seems to be in danger now. In the long run, Twilight hopes for these IPCs to make the losses worthwhile.

Twilight didn’t trust leaving his Canadian troops on my British transport and decided to leave them in Iceland for now. He was annoyed with the loss of his bomber and built a new one. Commonwealth forces are now playing a big role defending Egypt. Italy faces harsh odds in North Africa.

With the British, I completely overran Persia and prepared to start sending forces north to help Russia. Italy’s navy almost forced me to evacuate the Mediterranean, but a bright idea struck me—an air base in Egypt to let us scramble planes there. Once again, an Italian attack would have really close odds, so I felt bold enough to make a stand. With Commonwealth and French units in Egypt, I decided to move the British army up to Alexandria. Not much happened in the UK. I liberated Scotland from the small German attack and built a destroyer.

Romania moved forward on the Eastern Front and has a decent sized army in Western Ukraine. It won’t survive without German reinforcements though. Romania is quickly becoming comparatively rich for a minor power.

Kyle responded to my stubborn Royal Navy near Cairo by building more ships and used his Italian army in Libya to attack Alexandria. The battle ended in mutual annihilation with only the Italian Air force surviving. In Eastern Europe, Italian units killed the Partisan in Yugoslavia and reinforced the Romanians fighting in Ukraine. With the cover of a large Italian navy and German air force on Malta, Kyle can send 4 ground units to Africa every turn. One of us has to attack soon.

I lost 2 French ships in the Mediterranean, but I’m satisfied that they did their job distracting enemy forces. The long fight in north-west Africa is over. I attacked with 2 French infantry and a fighter versus the 2 Italian fast units; all 4 land units died and my French fighter is in Gibraltar now. The French are on the front lines in Egypt, and I managed to convince Twilight to let me bring Canadian troops to Morocco with a French transport. They’ll probably sink, but it’s at least a distraction using forces that can’t do anything else at the moment.

We’re all very curious what Dan will try next on the Eastern Front, although I’m pretty sure Kyle is demanding that he send units south to help the Romanians.

Turn 4

The Germans smashed through the Baltic States and now have a threatening mobile force there. Combined with the Finns and Germans in the north and the possibility of an attack by sea, Leningrad cannot hold out.  Dan sent many German units to Western Ukraine and made a large air assault on the Soviet industrial complex further south. His intentions on the Eastern Front are still uncertain. The Western Front has been noticeably quiet with a lone German sub sitting in Sea Zone 125 to negate the Soviet’s lend lease NO. There is still a large German air and naval presence here.

Hungary attacked Belarus with close odds but actually fought well with 3 units surviving. A few infantry were also sent south to help the messy group of Axis units in Ukraine.

Finland sits at a standstill, waiting for the Germans to take Leningrad.

The Soviet Union looks hard pressed, but Victoria decided to make a stand in the Ukraine. Further north, she was forced to evacuate Novgorod to avoid losing more troops. With most Axis forces in Western Ukraine, the Italians left behind in Bessarabia were an easy target for the Soviets. Victoria took almost no losses there. In sharp contrast, a counterattack on the Hungarians in Belarus failed miserably. The dice gave the Russkies no hits. This is a big deal because now German mobile divisions can be diverted into the Russian heartland or threaten Archangel. However, the Soviets do have considerable air and AA sort support to keep Moscow defended.

The Americans completed their South American adventure and now control Chile and have 4 IPCs extra.  Brazil and the United States will soon join the Allies and ensure Africa doesn’t fall to Italy and France will be liberated.  The Axis need to move faster if they’re going to win. Twilight is anxious to get the Americans involved.

Canada launched its own operation in Morocco, landing 4 fresh units to march east and retake North Africa. Combined with other Commonwealth forces that now form the majority of the Allies in Egypt, they may be able to squeeze the Italians in Libya to death. In a suicide attack, Twilight used his South African tactical bomber and destroyer to attack the Italian fleet to soften them up for me.

With the United Kingdom, I attempted to put an end to the Italian navy outside Libya, but the battle only ended in mutual annihilation, with the Italian transports surviving. Those German air units on Malta gave me a very rough time. With the Middle East secure, I sent some units to the USSR (we have a lend lease rule that allows them to be converted next turn) and built a factory in Persia. India will crank out more forces, including a cruiser that is now badly needed in the Mediterranean. To divert some German forces, the British made a minor landing in undefended Holland.

Kyle tried to take advantage of the situation in the Mediterranean with Italy by attacking the remaining Commonwealth destroyer by Gibraltar and French submarine outside Greece. The Italians achieved total naval supremacy, but an attack on Alexandria ended in retreat.  There are simply too many combined Allies in Egypt for the Italians to fight alone, especially now that they have to rely on their own air force in Malta to protect their convoys. There are still quite a few small Italian ships everywhere though.

Romania had to respond to the Soviet attack on Bessarabia. Holding this territory is their only NO. But like the Italians before them, they took heavy casualties fighting here. Kyle made a real game-changer further east with the Romanians, taking Bryansk deep in Russia. Since the Hungarians were able to hold Belarus, Dan could now move all his German armor right onto Moscow’s doorstep while simultaneously threatening Ukraine.  A crisis might unfold in the Soviet Union. Victoria’s only comfort is knowing the messy conglomeration of Axis forces cannot attack in unison. She might be able to hit them hard from behind and build a massive stack in Moscow. Twilight said he’s not used to seeing such an uneven front line in Axis and Allies without disaster unfolding for someone.

Most of my French units are dead, but I’m sending a transport and fighter around Africa to help the small desert force fighting in Libya. I have an infantry in Madagascar to bring up too. Home feels very far away.