Blog: The grand Strategy Game.

[Narvik]

@Narvik

USA - TURN 2 - WINTER 39/1940

League of Nations expels USSR for the attack on Finland.

FINNISH RELIEF:
-Per Albin (Sweden) declare non-belligerent and send Inf + FTR to Finland
-USA (FDR + Hoover) give $ 3 million in support
-Chamberlain (UK) and Daladier (Fra) are ready to send Inf (UK) + Inf (Fra) to Finland, and they also warn Stalin they will bomb the oil fields in Baku (Caucasus)
-Norway, S. Africa, Belgium, Brazil, Italy and Hungary send weapons to Finland.

MOSCOW PEACE TREATY. Stalin stand back, he don’t want to push his luck.
(Mdm Kollontay give a secret warning to Johan (Nor) and Per Albin (Swe) to don’t push it.

CASH & CARRY: US stay neutral while allowing UK and France to buy weapons delivered in Canada and paid with gold.

Charles Lindberg protest and try to keep USA out of the war.

PURCHASE:
East coast: Sub, FTR
Finnish Relief: Supply to Finland
Sweden mobilize 2 Inf

non-comb move

US: Tranny with supply to 127 Fin
Swe: Inf + FTR to Fin

[Narvik]

@Narvik

China T2 Winter -39/1940

Purchase:
KMT: 3 Inf
CCP: Inf

Combat:

THE GREAT WINTER OFFENSIVE BY KMT
Hopei: 2 Inf attack> Chahar: Cav (Prince De)
CCP (Red Army) block the supply chain and force KMT to retreat, after losing 1 Inf

Kweichow: 6 Inf attack > Anhve: 3 Inf, Art (Jap)
Loss KMT: 2 Inf
Loss Jap: Inf
Attackers retreat to Kweichow

Hunan: 4 Inf attack> Kiangsi: 3 Inf (Jap)
Loss KMT: Inf
Attacker retreat to Hunan

Yunnan: 3 Inf attack> Kwangsi: Inf, Art (Jap)
Loss Jap: All units

[Narvik]

@Narvik

UK - TURN 2 - WINTER 39/1940

THE WAR SCARE: Admiral Canaris (Germany) warn that Adolf want to attack W. Europe.
Chamberlain (UK) guarantee France, Holl/Belgium and Turkey

TRADE AGREEMENT UK-NORWAY (aka The Silent Ally)
Chamberlain (UK) charter 700 000 tons of merchant shipping from the norwegian merchant fleet, the nr 4 largest in the world with a total of 2.3 mill tons. This cover the allied convoy losses so far. Also the Plan R4 is in play, and UK prepare to non-combat move into now pro-Allied neutral Norway to cut off the swedish iron ore supply to Germany. First Lord Churchill may, or may not, have mentioned this to his nephew Giles Romilly, a war correspondent, who went right to Narvik in Norway, where the UK landing was expected, to cover the great triumph. Gilles was one week later arrested and send to Colditz Castle in Germany, since the UK campaign in Norway turned out to be a fiasco.
Adolf (the german player) warn Norway that they are now in harms way.
Chamberlain laugh and say Adolf missed the bus.

Chamberlain also ask Per Albin (SWE) and Jan de Geer (Holl/Belg) to charter some ships, but they both say no.

[Narvik]

@Narvik

UK - TURN 2 - WINTER 39/1940

PURCHASE:
UK: BB, FTR, BMB, Mech, Art, 2 INF
Can: Inf + L/L Mech to UK
Kenya: Inf
Turkey: Art paid by UK

combat

BATTLE OF THE RIVER PLATE:
sz 87: CA (UK) attack> sz 85: CA (Graf Spee Ge)
Loss Ge: CA

ALTMARK INCIDENT:
UK: DD attack> sz 125: Tranny (Altmark Ge)
Loss Ge: Tranny
Altmark was in neutral norwegian water, guardet by norwegian destroyer. Adolf claim that Norway is no longer neutral, and may be target for imminent attacks in near future.

non-comb move

Prepare Plan R4:
UK: Sub to 112, make sub screen
UK: BB, CA to 123, block Ge access to Atlantic Sea
UK: 2 Trannies with 2 Inf get ready to invade Norway
UK: DD to sz 126, lay minefield in neutral norwegian water, to block German moves. This is violation of norwegian neutrality.

OPERATION FISH:
UK: CA with gold to 106 Can, to pay for more Cash & Carry weapons

BEF:
UK: Tranny with Inf, Art to Normandy
UK: FTR to Normandy

Desert Rats:
UK: Tranny with Tank to sz 92 Gib, headet for Egypt

OPERATION PIKE:
UK: BMB to Iraq, a threat to USSR oil fields in Caucasus

[Narvik]

@Narvik

ITALY - TURN 2 - WINTER 39/1940

THE BRENNER PASS MEETING: A turning point of the war. Adolf (german player) ask Benito (italian player) to join the war. Ben is not happy to attack another catholic brother, France, and hesitate. Adolf ask Ben to remember the Pact of Steel from may 1939. Ben now comply.

PURCHASE:
Italy: Sub, TAC, Mech
Yugo: Inf
Hung: Inf
Greece: Inf

non-comb move

N. Italy sz 95: DD (SWE) to sz 91 Gib.
The neutral swedish Psilander-Party, of 4 destroyers, one passenger line and a Tanker, is headet home to Sweden, but will soon get into trouble with Winston.

Image show the famous Brenner Pass meeting

[Narvik]

@Narvik

ANZAC and UK Pacific Turn 2 Winter -39/1940

(I do it this way because it is logical and save space.)

Udam Singh, governor of Punjap, is assasinated.

Purchase:
India: Inf, Art
Aus: Inf

non-comb move

India: Tranny with Inf to Egypt
Aus: sz 57: Tranny with Inf to 77
NZ: 61: Tranny with Inf to 58

No image

[Narvik]

@Narvik

FRANCE - TURN 2 - WINTER 39/1940

Daladier, aka the “Bull”, is stood down after he failed to aid Poland and Finland. (In center of the image)
Reynauld is new french player (aka prime minister) (Far left in the image) His mistress, Helene de Portes, aka “the Parrot”, the most powerful woman in France, also very anti-british and pro-Axis, is now in play. She is the one sitting in a red chair in the image.

Daladier want to move the French Army into Holl/Belgium, since the muddy terrain there is easy to defend. Both Pierlot (Belg player far right) and queen Wilhelmina (Holl player) says no.

Hans Oster (Ge) warn colonel Sas (Holl/Belg) that the attack on Norway is imminent.
The Paris Group (french uranium scientists) now purchase all heavy water (200 liter) from Norway, just to prevent Adolf from getting it (in case he attack Norway)

Purchase:
Normandy 105: BB (Richely),
Fra: FTR, BMB, 3 Inf, Art, AA-gun
Romania: Inf (It’s still allied to France)

Non-comb move:

110: Tranny to 112, pick up cargo (heavy water), to 110, off load cargo into Normandy

S. Fra. Inf (Pol) to Normandy

Normandy 105: CV (Bearn) with gold as cargo, to 106 Can to purchase Cash & Carry aircraft

[Narvik]

@Narvik
ROUND 3 - MAR APR MAY
Germany Turn 3 Spring 1940

Adolf DOW Denmark, Norway and Holl/Belgium without prior warning.

Stauping surrender, and Denmark become a protectorat run by Germany. They must de-mobilize the Inf, but can keep the old gunboat.

Johan (Norway) is a viking and don’t take BS from anybody and will fight to the bitter end.

King Leopold III take responsibility and surrender before the politicians do something stupid that can ruin Holl/Belgium. A brave act indeed, but now his new names are “King Rat” and “The Traitor King”. He can live with that.

[Narvik]

@Narvik

ROUND 3 MAR-APR-MAY

Germany TURN 3 Spring 1940

Purchase: Sub, TAC, BMB, Tank, Art, 3 Inf, Mech, AA-gun

Combat move

INVASION OF DENMARK
W. Ge: Mech attack> Denmark Inf
Denmark loss: INf

BATTLE OF NARVIK:
W. Ge: 2 BMB, DD, Sub, Tranny with Mountain Inf attack> sz 126 Gunboat (NOR), DD (UK)
Loss: Gunboat (NOR) DD (UK)
Tranny off load the Mnt Inf in Narvik, wich is empty since the norwegian Inf is guarding the border to USSR up north. Norway should really be cut in 3 territories, but in this case I use the “Contestet Territory” rule from A&A 1914 and D-day
Also, this is the day war correspondent Giles Romilly, Churchills nephew, is arrested in Narvik when documenting the landing, and taken to Colditz Castle.

BATTLE OF SOUTH NORWAY
W. Ge: 2 CA, 3 DD, Tranny with Inf and AA-gun, Skytrain with airborne Inf attack> Norway: Coastal Fort
Ge loss: CA + Norway loss: Fort

Norway is still a contestet territory

Rotterdam Blitz:
W. Ge: 2 BMB, Tac SBR> Holl/Belgium (50% damage to the largest Port in Europe)
(Adolf promised he would not do it if they surrendered, but they did not surrender fast enough.

INVASION OF HOLL/BELG
W. Ge: 3 FTR, 3 Tanks, 4 Mech, 4 Art, 10 Inf attack> Holl/Belg 7 Inf, Fort, AA-gun
Holl/Belg loss: King Leo III surrender all units without rolling defending dice.
Adolf now give the famous “Stop Order” (In german “Der Halte Befehl” because Goring promise to take Dieppe by air only. In my Blog Dieppe is located in Normandy.)

Non-comb move

Operation Hartmut:
sz 112: 3 Subs to sz 111 to form a sub screen, protecting the invasion fleet. This is the famous torpedo failure incident.
124 BB to 112
W. Ge: AA-gun to Holl/Belg

Holocaust: Auschwitz opens in Poland

To sum the manpower up, at this point Germany should have 4 200 000 men in the Army, that equals to 42 land units in my Blog. (since most land units are 100 000 men) They are distributed like this:
Holl/Belg: 22 units
W. Ge 6 Blockhouse units but I think one of this units is 50 000 men, and the newly mobilized purchase of Tank, Art, 3 Inf and Mech, and also Tanks are just 50 000 men.
Norway: 2 full land units, the AA-gun is less than 20 000 men, and the Paratroops are 7 000 men only. Funny thing is the same Paratroop unit was used first in Denmark, then in Norway, and then i Holl/Belg, But since a Turn in my Blog is 3 months, a unit can only be used in one spot, so then it is used in Norway. The reason is that the take over of Norway could only happen with a paratroop unit, but Holl/Belg would have happened with or without any airborne units.

[Narvik]

@Narvik

USSR Turn 3 Spring 1940

The Sovjet Politburo Meeting: Stalin, Molotov, Beria and Kalinin agree to kill as many poles as possible. Both Stalin and Beria had been choir boys at Gori Church School, and loved to sing and play the piano.

Purchase: TAC, Tank, 2 Inf, Mech

Non-comb move

Katyn Massacre: 25 000 poles killed (some sources say 40 000, the estimates differ)

[Narvik]

@Narvik

Japan T 3 Spring 1940

Tokyo Kid (Hirohito) now establish the Nanjing Government and collaborist Army (ROC) and collaborist navy (ROCN) to fight CCP (Red Army in China). Wang Jingwey is the leader (player). Both Wang, emperor Puyi and prince De is gathered in the Game Room to get some pep-talk.

Purchase:
Jap: Sub, BMB, Inf
Kiangsu: DD (ROCN) and 2 Inf (ROC)

As a matter of fact, this DD unit represent 2 light cruisers, Ning Hai and Ping Hai, 19 warships, 12 gunboats and 24 small gunboats.

Combat

Bomb campaign: Kingsu BMB SBR> Szchwan dam

Kiangsu: 2 Inf, Art, Tank, TAC attack> Kwangsi: 4 Inf
Jap Loss: Inf + KMT loss: 4 Inf

[Narvik]

@Narvik

USA Turn 3 Spring 1940

FDR’s Fireside Chat this time is: On National Defense. He moves his fleet to Pearl Harbour, just to deter Japan from doing something stupid.

FDR sign a Tonnage Agreement with Per Albin (SWE), and charter 900 000 tons of merchant shipping from Sweden. Adolf charter the other 900 000 tons just to make it balanced.

FDR also sign a Tech Agreement with Per Albin (SWE). USA now got a license to produce the famous 40 mm Bofors AA-gun.

As usual the America First commite are making a fuss, with Charles Lindberg insisting to keep USA neutral, and calling FDR a warmonger, dictator and demanding impeachment. Lindberg is left in the image. FDR sit with Missy LeHand, his personal secretary, and Fala, his scottish terrier. Per Albin is right in the image.

Purchase: Tranny, Tank
Cash & Carry: to UK: FTR, to France: CV-air

Non-comb move

Fleet to Pearl Harbour and the Fleet Problem XXI exercise:
San Diego sz 10: CV with 2 Air, 3 BB, 5 CA, 2 DD, 2 Sub, Tranny w Inf, FTR to sz 26 Hawaii

Finland sz 127 Tranny (US) pick up princess Martha of Norway and swedish Bofors gun with drawings, move to sz123, headed to USA.

[Narvik]

@Narvik

China T 3 spring 1940

Purchase:
KMT: 3 Inf
CCP: Inf

[Narvik]

@Narvik

UK Turn 3 Spring 1940

Norway Debate - the most decisive meeting of the war:
Chamberlain resign. Churchill is the new UK-player
His first order is to mobilize the Home Guard.

Queen Wilhelmina form Holland government in exile in London
Pierlot form Belgian government in exile in London

[Narvik]

@Narvik

UK Turn 3 Spring 1940

Purchase:
UK: CA, DD, FTR, BMB, Tank, Art, 5 Inf, AA-gun
Canada: Inf + L/L Mech to UK.
South Africa: Inf
Turkey: 2 Inf, Art, paid by UK

Combat:
UK: BMB SBR> W. Ge
UK loss: BMB

INVASION OF ICELAND
UK 119: BB, CA, DD, Tranny w Inf to sz 123, attack> Iceland (empty) place national token
UK 119: DD to sz 124, attack> Faroe Island (empty) place national token

Second battle of Narvik:
UK 119: BB, DD attack> sz 126 DD, Sub, Tranny Ge
Ge loss: all

Plan R4:
UK 119: CA, Tranny w Inf to sz 105, amphibious assault> Nor: Inf, Mnt Inf, Paratrooper (Ge)
UK loss: Inf

The Belgian Trap:
Norm: FTR, Tank, Art, 2 Inf attack> Holl/Belg: 3 Tank, 4 Mech, 4 Art, 10 Inf, AA-gun
UK loss: all

Non-comb move

BEF, UK: Tranny w 2 Inf to Normandy

Can 106 Tranny w Inf (Can) + Mech (L/L to UK) to 119 UK

S. Af: Tranny w Inf to Kenya

Gib sz 92: Tranny w Tank (Desert Rats) to 98 Egypt

Egypt: Tranny w Inf (Punjab) to Iraq
sz 77 Tranny w Inf (ANZAC) to Trans Jordan
sz 58: Tranny w Inf (ANZAC) to sz 76

US: FTR (cash & carry) to Canada

[Narvik]

@Narvik

Italy T 3 Spring 1940

Purchase:
It: BB (Roma)
Yugo: Inf
Hung: Inf
Greece: Inf

Non-comb move

It: Tranny w Tank, Inf to Libya
It: FTR to libya
It: Tranny w Inf to Ethiopia
It: TAC to Ethiopia

sz 91 DD (SWE) to sz 124 Faroe Isl.

No image

[Narvik]

@Narvik

ANZAC & UK Pac T 3 Spring 1940

Purchase:
India: 2 Inf (milits)
Aus: Inf

No image

[Narvik]

@Narvik

France Turn 3 Spring 1940

Purchase:
FRA: Tank, 3 Inf, Art
Romania: Inf

Comb

THE BELGIAN TRAP
Fra: 2 FTR, TAC, 3 Tank, 2 Mech, 2 Art, 4 Inf attack> Holl/Belg: 3 Tank, 4 Mech, 4 Art, 10 Inf, AA
FRA loss: all + Ge loss: Inf

Non-comb move

Norm 110: Tranny w heavy water to UK (deny Adolf making the bomb)
Op. Ariel: Norm 110: Tranny pick up Inf (FRA) + Inf (POL) to UK

Evacuation of the Fleet:
Norm 105: BB to sz 92 Algerie
Norm 105: BB, CA, DD, Sub to sz 87 Dakar
CA in sz 88 Fren. Guyana
S. FRA (Toulon) 93: BB, CA, 3 DD, Sub to sz 94 Tunisia

[Narvik]

@Narvik

ROUND 4 - june july august

GERMANY TURN 4 SUMMER 1940

The second Vienna Award:
Adolf tell king Carol II (Romania) to give Transsilvania to Hungary and Bessarabia to USSR.
Also he must give all the Ploesti oil to Germany.
Now Romania will get protection from Adolf.

Trade Agreement with Finland:
Germany get nickel from Finland.
Finland get protection.

Image left to right: king Carol II (Rom), Mannerheim (Fin), Adolf (Ge), Horthy (Hung)

[Narvik]

@Narvik

ROUND 4 - JUNE JULY AUGUST 1940

GERMANY TURN 4 SUMMER 1940

Purchase: BB (Bismarck + Prinz Eugen) Tank, Art, 3 Inf

combat move

OPERATION PAULA
W. Ge: 2 BMB SBR> Paris FTR
Fra loss: FTR + Dam

OPERATION JUNO
112 BB attack> 125 CA, Tranny (UK) + DD (NOR)
UK loss: CA
BB retreat to sz 112

KANALKAMPF
W. Ge: BMB, Sub attack> 109 conv (loss 4 conv. points)
W. Ge: BMB attack> 105 Lancastria sunk (loss 3 conv points)
W. Ge: FTR, TAC, Sub attack> 110 CA, 4 DD, Tranny, 2 FTR (scrambled) (UK) + DD, Tranny (FRA)
Ge loss: all + FRA loss DD + UK loss FTR
W. Ge: Sub attack> 119 conv (loss 3 conv points)
W. Ge: Sub attack> 111 conv (loss 2 conv points)

Convoy disruption 12 IPC total

FALL ROT, THE FINAL BATTLE OF FRANCE
Holl/Belg: 3 Tanks, 5 Mech, 2 Art + 2 TAC attack> FRA: 6 Inf, 3 Art, + 5 Forts (Maginot Line)
Ge loss: TAC, Tank, Mech + FRA loss: all

NON-COMB MOVE
W. GE: CA (Comet) to sz 127 in transit to Pacific
Afrika Korps: Ge: Tank to N. Italy

Bessarabia: Inf (Rom) to Romania