Posts made by mkgionet

7.4.24 Game Report #1
Global 1940 with Expansion Rules & the following optional rules:
Rockets
Heavy Bombers
Seafire fighter planes
Jet Fighters
Japanese Destroyers
King Tiger & SS Heavy Tanks

Agreed a win can happen through Economic Victory or Axis capturing victory cities per the original Global 1940 rules.

Germany - Josh S
Italy - Logan S
Japan - Alex M
UK - Pat H
Russia - mkgionet
USA - Mike K

Report through the end of Early 1942 (round 5)

Germany immediately launched attacks against France and Russia in turn 1. Russia pulled back and arranged troops for a defensive stand. Germany captured Novgorod, but since Russia destroyed the factory Germany built a factory in Finland on that same turn. Germany launched a powerful attack against Ukraine which was defended by a large amount of infantry. Battle started well enough for Germany so Russia destroyed the factory, but then Germany took heavy loses and decided to retreat. Knowing that they wouldn’t be able to capture Russian factories Germany also built a factory in Romania.

Russia built up 3 army units and a tank army and invested significantly in mines near the territories where Germany had their largest amount of forces. To date Germany has crossed a mined border once, with no casualties, and the 2 rockets fired so far at German forces have also missed. A massive counter attack with 3 Russian armies was launched in Early 1942 to reclaim Archangel after Germany took it in Late 1941 eliminating 1 Russian army unit and a large amount of other troops. The 1941 attack on Archangel left Novgorod practically empty so Russia was also able to reclaim it in Early 1942 with the minimal forces you see on the board.

The UK focused on building landing crafts right away to quickly capture Norway & Denmark. Germany counter attacked destroying those forces and all landing crafts, so UK went over to building transports instead and has another foothold in Europe in Denmark & Holland. Germany has built 1 wolf pack so far and it hasn’t been used yet. The UK also focused on eliminating the Italian navy (a success), building a factory (and controlling) the middle east, and pouring a massive amount of infantry into India.

Italy has had a tough go of it launching a disastrous attack on Alexandria on turn 1 with terrible rolling where they were soundly defeated by the UK. That set the tone as Italy has not been able to keep a navy and has posed little threat to Africa. The French navy has not only survived, but has been sitting off the Italian coast for several turns sinking convoys. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that! It’s kind of silly, but with little else to do the lone French troop that started in western Africa walked across the continent to capture the only remaining Italian country south of the Sahara - Italian Somaliland.

Japan attacked the USA on turn 2 by taking control of the Philipines, bringing the USA into the war early. A decent sized USA navy was built on the East coast, with more resources committed to the Pacific, but the US hasn’t had a significant impact on the game as of yet. Japan pushed hard at taking islands and eliminating China, which they succeeded in doing in Early 1942, but China was revived almost immediately by the UK. Japan certainly is a force to be reckoned with and has a lot of options in the upcoming turns.

The Axis clearly were trying for a quick Economic Victory as they were at 145 IPC after Japan’s Early 1942 turn. Since that time they’ve lost several money islands to Anzac & the UK, and Germany continues to be plagued by attacks from both fronts so they are no longer close to reaching that at this time . To be continued in late August!

@The-Captain After discussion amongst our players we’ve decided that victory conditions for our game today will be:

• Economic as you outline
• Original Military Victory rules from the Global 1940 game: Axis controlling 6 victory cities in the Pacific or 8 victory cities in Europe OR Allies controlling all 3 Axis capitals

We really like victory cities having more of an impact on the game. We’ll see how things play out!

To not get overwhelmed with adding all of the Optional Rules we’re only adding for this game:
Rockets
Heavy Bombers
Seafire fighter planes
Jet Fighters
Japanese Destroyers
King Tiger & SS Heavy Tanks

@The-Captain Oh boy, somehow I overlooked that. Definitely makes it a bit harder for the Axis to win. I kind of like the concept of victory cities that play more of an important role in the war but I’m guessing the change was made for game balance?

GAME REPORT #3 (and final) Global 1940 with Expansion Rules - sections 1-4 (no optional rules) that concluded on 6/29/24
(notice the improved expansion counters that Cornelis provided - thank you!)

Germany - mkgionet
Italy - Cathy M
Japan - Pat H
UK - Mike K
Russia - Alex M
USA - Josh S

Report through partial Early 1946 - game called after Germany fell.

Not surprisingly, despite Germany’s best efforts they just kept getting pushed back. Once UK, USA, & Russia finally arranged their forces to all attack Berlin on the same turn Germany was defeated. Interestingly there was never a D Day as Denmark was taken over all and attacks went straight for Berlin. Also interesting that not a single mine was bought by anyone.

Japan was a powerhouse and after capturing India had his sites set for Hawaii as the 6th Pacific Victory City. When setting up for this attack in 1945 (to execute in 1946) there was a miscalculation and 3 transports were left vulnerable off wake island and were sunk by carrier fighters. Without those 6 troops an attack on Honolulu would end in sure defeat. If that mistake wasn’t made and Germany was able to hold out just a tad longer then perhaps this game would’ve ended in a victory for the Axis with the capture of 6 victory cities in the Pacific. Yes, Japan ended the game at 91 on the IPC track!

A hard fought battle by all! Stay tuned, the next game starts on July 4th where each player gets to choose an optional rule to add. I’ll be Russia this time!

@barnee Thanks Barnee, we totally overlooked that. Will downgrade it now so we can at least play correctly moving forward. We have all the rules printed out but it’s easy to miss something when there are so many.

@The-Captain Yes, we use the OOB Victory Cities as well as the Economic Victory conditions. Both seem like a fair way to win.

Yes, I heavily defended Europe mainland so the US decided to take over Norway instead and build a Minor IC that they upgraded to a Heavy Industry 1 Unit.

It’s hard to see the German 3rd Panzer Army flag with the angle I took the picture (my bad). It’s currently protecting the coast and located in Normandy/Bordeaux.

At the moment there’s only 1 Waffen-SS unit in Holland/Belgium, and unfortunately Germany isn’t setup to make any more in the upcoming turn.

Thanks for your compliments & interest!

@The-Captain Game Report #2 continuing from 5/20/2024 Post of first 5 rounds

Germany - mkgionet
Italy - Cathy M
Japan - Pat H
UK - Mike K
Russia - Alex M
USA - Josh S

Report Late 1942 through Early 1944

Germany continued pushing until Armies were in Smolensk ready to invade Moscow. However, Russia launched a powerful counter attack from the north and south completely wiping out all German troops in Smolensk. The German invasion of Moscow sadly just fell short. Germany was able to capture and hold many Russian territories but the front line kept getting thinner and thinner, and then was getting pushed back in the south. At this point the German front line is practically non-existant.

While Germany concentrated on Russia the large US fleet off the coast of France landed in Norway and setup a Minor Industrial Factory - big problems for Germany. The UK also started to expand thier navy. A daring attack by the Luftwaffe made a dire situation better by completely sinking that US fleet. More US ships came up from the southern Atlantic to destroy the German navy. Now how will Germany fend off UK’s fleet? Perhaps Italy can retake Gibraltar and free the remaining German navy that’s trapped in the Mediterranean. Italy hasn’t really been able to make any progress, but has been able to hold their own.

Russia and Japan are still at peace. Russia moved their factories underground after Italian bomber raids. They finally received (3) fighters through Lend Lease, though still haven’t received any tanks.

The US has focused almost all of its attention on the Pacific, where Japan has taken many islands and now threatens Australia. With Germany on the retreat it appears the only way the Axis has a chance to win this war is in the Pacific.

Likely this game will finally end on Day 3, which won’t take place until 6/29 - stay tuned!

@The-Captain Those flags were made by one of our players (Alex) quite some time ago, long before we ever knew about the “army” rules. We never had a great use for them though, except for decoration. We’ll need to make more though as I think they work well at representing army formations.

@barnee Thank you, me too!

Over the course of the last few years we’ve been playing the Global 1940 game in-person. In the previous 3 games we’ve added one section of the expansion rules to get where we are now - playing sections with sections 1-4. Mike, Pat, Alex, Josh, and myself have played together for most of those games, with Cathy being a newer addition.

No, those are Italy’s troops in Greece.

@The-Captain Thank you Captain - that’s exactly what I thought!

@The-Captain Hello Captain! I’m hoping you can settle a rules question for me that resulted in quite a controversy in the game we started a couple days ago. I think the answer is quite obvious and my opponents are grasping at straws but let’s see what you decide!

Situation - A global 1940 game using expansion rules sections 1-4, turn 3 or 4. Russia and Japan are still at peace so the non-aggression pact is still in place.

Italy flies a bomber over to industrial bomb Russia’s factory in Stalingrad and then desires to land in Sikang, which is currently controlled by Japan. The allies vehemently argued that landing the bomber in a Japanese territory after bombing Russia would be a violation of the non-aggression pact and place Russia & Japan at war. I don’t see anything in the rules that would suggest that. What say you Captain?

Many thanks!

@barnee You asked for a Game Report Post, so here it is:

Global 1940 with Expansion Rules - sections 1-4 (no optional rules)

Germany - mkgionet
Italy - Cathy M
Japan - Pat H
UK - Mike K
Russia - Alex M
USA - Josh S

Report through Early 1942

Germany succeeded in clearing the Atlantic (except for US coast) of all Allied ships until Late 1941 when the US fleet finally entered the war taking back Gibralter. That emboldened the UK to build back its fleet in Early 1942. With Germany unsure if the USA would enter the Mediterranean a small fleet was hastily built off the coast of Southern France and so the USA turned north.

Italy succeeded (with a bit of help from the German air force) to clear the Mediterranean of Allied ships but took a major defeat in Northern Africa, practically being kicked out of the continent.

Several German armies were formed to start a relentless march towards Moscow. At one point there were two Army groups formed. One still remains intact with 10 infantry, an SS army, and a Panzer army. As soon as Late 1942 begins multiple armies will be on Moscow’s doorstep. Surprisingly Russia chose not to build any mines, and they’ve received very little help from their allies. No units have been given to them yet via Lend Lease. Yes, those are Anzac troops in Bryansk that just arrived by rail from Egypt.

Japan focused on (and succeeded) in eliminating China, winning a significant battle against a sizeable Anzac navy that’s been greatly reduced. Russia and Japan are still at peace, though troops are starting to gather on the China/Russia border.

UK rules the middle east and most of Africa, though only a fairly small amount of ground troops remain. UK is making a stand in India, time will tell if they make a move to try and resurrect China.

The USA has focused more of their attention on the Pacific, but have had a hard time organizing their units and coming up with a definitive plan of action.

See attached pictures - more to come when play resumes on 5/27/24.

@barnee Thanks - actually will be busy starting a 6 person in-person game on Saturday.

@barnee Thanks Barnee! It would be good to add that to the rulebook.

@The-Captain
In the House Rules Expansion it doesn’t explain how Army Group movement works. Can the Army Group move 1 or 2 spaces?

@cornelis-post Thanks for the offer. We’re taking a bit of a break from A&A, but when we return to it maybe I’ll be in touch.

@the-captain Yes, that is a good strategy for Germany. My apologies for not posting pictures, everyone started breaking down the game boards shortly after we stopped playing before it hit me that I should be taking pictures.

So, we did finish our game, and here’s what happened in a nutshell:

I took on ANZAC’s fleet with most of my navy and rolled increadibly well, while he rolled rather badly. I ended up losing my destroyers and subs, but not a single capital ship. They were all damaged, but I was able to repair them on my following turn - a fantastic victory! I then went on to take on the US navy, combined with some new ANZAC ships, off the Philippine Islands. We pretty much wiped each other out. I barely won with two tactical bombers left.

I did take India on the following turn as predicted and started producing troops from the industrial complexes I had built on the mainland to stop the Soviet invasion from the north. After Russia took Korea he just parked his massive stack of infantry there instead of continuing to advance. The US started sending troops down but was able to block them in Manchuria/Jehol.

On the European front Italy was able to punch through into the Middle East and take over all of those territories, including the Industrial Complex the UK had built in Iraq. Germany fought off some pestering invasions along it’s west coast, while plowing forward into Russia, actually taking it quite easily. After laying all those mines, including even more once we restarted, Germany only travelled over 5, and none of them detonated. HA!

After Russia fell, other than the stack of infantry sitting in Korea, they had very few troops left and no way to recapture it. The US had some troops sitting in Gibraltar & Morocco, but probably not enough to take Rome. The Allies were demoralized and conceeded in 1945 - Axis wins!

@the-captain Yes, quite an interesting game indeed! In response to your questions:

• Axis IPC level only 99
• Allied IPC level 168
• Russia has had 2 turns to build Soviet Gaurd units but hasn’t. Also note that the Soviets will be getting their last fighter and tank in this turn from Lend Lease
• No SS units on the game board, not sure why
• Yes, that is a French Tank! Thank you for pointing that out, I just realized we made a mistake and awarded 12 IPC of bonus troops to France when Normandy was liberated, not France. For some reason I thought it was any of France’s territory in mainland Europe. We’ll have to figure out how we want to remedy that.

No worries, I will capture India this turn, unless there are several unbelievable rolls, though I am worried about that massive US force coming from Alaska, and that ANZAC fleet. Biggest ANZAC fleet I’ve ever seen in a game!

@the-captain That’s great! How do I get it?

@the-captain Gotcha, but in this case we’ve only instituted Sections 1 & 2 of the Expansion rules so I won’t have to worry about Soviet Partisans in this game.

Adding pictures of where our game stands at the end of Early 1942. Resuming tomorrow to decide who will rule the world!