Blog: The grand Strategy Game.

[Narvik]

@Narvik

UK TURN 23 - SPRING 1945

OPERATION UNTHINKABLE
Winston consider backstabbing Stalin and attack the Red Army in Germany to save Poland.
Patton agree.
Truman rule out the operation as military unfeasible.

The Arab League is formed in Cairo.

The king of kings, Reza Pahlavi of Persia, demands all UK and USSR troops leave Persia ASAP!!!

King Ibn Saud (Saudi Arabia) and Johan (Norway) DOW Tokyo Kid

From left: king Farouk, Truman, Pahlavi, Winston, Johan, Ibn and Tokyo Kid far right.

PURCHASE
CV, 2 Air, 2 FTR, 2 BMB

COMBAT

UK: 1 BMB SBR> Nor = total damage
UK: 2 BMB SBR> W. Ge: = total damage
UK: 2 BMB attack> sz 113: sink all remaining ships

INVASION OF WESTERN GERMANY
Holl/Belg: 4 Inf, 3 Art, Tank attack> W. Ge: 2 Fort, 2 Blockhouses, 4 Inf, AA, 2 FTR
UK: 2 Trannies to sz 110 + 2 Inf + 2 Inf (CAN) amp> W. GE
Loss Ge: all units

NON-COMB MOVE
Adolf give up and all Axis forces in Denmark and Norway surrender.
UK, Tranny w Inf to sz 112 + offload in Nor
UK: Tranny w Inf to sz 112 + offload in Den

[Narvik]

@Narvik

ITALY TURN 23 - SPRING 1945
Musso and Clara is hanged.
Adolf and Eva commit suicide
Two of the main Axis players have left the game

The new Italian player, Badoglio DOW Tokyo Kid

COMBAT

BATTLE OF POLJANA
Yugo: 2 Inf (Partisan) attack> Slovenia/Trieste: Inf (GE) + Inf (Serb)
Loss Axis: all units + 100 000 serbs, croats and cossacks is massacred
Because Trieste was UK responsibility, Tito is now in conflict with Winston.
This was the last official battle in Europe, but because France is last in the Turn order, The Second Battle of the Alps will be the last battle in this Blog

[Narvik]

@Narvik

ANZAC AND UK PAC TURN 23 - SPRING 1945

COMBAT
BATTLE OF MALACCA STRAIT
Ceylon: DD attack> sz 37: CA
Loss JAP: all units

NON-COMB MOVE
sz 41: CV, BB, CA, DD to sz 19

[Narvik]

@Narvik

FRANCE TURN 23 - SPRING 1945

Jodl signs the unconditional surrender at Reims, France.
Stalin is not present.

de Gaulle DOW Badoglio because he want to grab a piece of Italy

PURCHASE
2 Inf, Art

COMBAT
SECOND BATTLE OF THE ALPS
S. It: Inf, Tank, FTR attack> N. It: Inf (IT)
Loss IT: all units
Truman is not happy and stop de Gaulle.

NON-COMB MOVE

THE SELIFA MASSACRE IN ALGERIA
Alg: Inf murder 40 000 civilians

[Narvik]

@Narvik

ROUND 24 (june july aug 1945) the final round
GERMANY TURN 24 - SUMMER 1945

POTSDAM CONFERENCE - TERMINAL
The Allied Control Council takes power and supreme autorothy of Germany.
De Gaulle resist this Agreement. Germany belongs to France now.

Stalin, Truman and Winston also demand unconditional surrender of Japan.

Also a lot of Axis war criminals are arrested: left on the pic

The situation in Europe after the war

[Narvik]

@Narvik

USSR TURN 24 - SUMMER 1945

Stalin (USSR) and Choibalsan (Mongolia) DOW Tokyo Kid (Japan)

PURCHASE
3 FTR, 3 TAC, 6 Tanks, 2 Inf, 2 Art

COMBAT

SOVJET-JAPAN WAR
Amur: 8 Inf, 8 Art, 7 Tanks + 2 FTR, 2 TAC, BMB attack> Manchuria: 6 Inf, Art, Tank, FTR, TAC, 3 Inf Manchuko
Loss USSR: Inf, Tank + Loss JAP: all units

Amur: 7 Inf + 3 FTR, TAC attack> North Korea: 4 Inf, 2 FTR
Loss JAP: all units

[Narvik]

@Narvik

JAPAN TURN 24 - SUMMER 1945

Tokyo Kid rejects the Potsdam Declaration.

PURCHASE
2 FTR, Inf

NON-COMB MOVE
Siam: 2 Inf (JA) + Inf (Siam) + Inf (Free India) to Shan State

COLLECT INCOME CONVOY DISRUPTION
4 Subs in sz 6 = loss 11 IPC
US Fleet in sz 19 = loss 9 IPC
2 Subs in sz 20 = loss 5 IPC
total loss = 25 IPC

[Narvik]

@Narvik

USA TURN 24 - SUMMER 1945

UN Charter signed in San Francisco

Truman approves the use of A-Bomb in Japan

TECH
Trinity test in New Mexico - first a-bomb ever,

PURCHASE
East: CA, 3 FTR, TAC, 3 BMB
Okinava: Airbase

COMBAT

OPERATION MATTERHORN
Iwo: BMB SBR> Jap = total damage
Oki: BMB SBR> Jap; = total damage
Guam: BMB SBR> Jap: = total damage

OPERATION CENTERBOARD
Marianas: H. BMB nuke> Jap: = total damage

TF 58: 8 CV, 16 Air, 2 BB, 5 CA, 5 DD attack> sz 6: DD, 5 Trannis + FTR scrambled
Loss Jap: all units
8 cv-Air SBR> Jap: Naval Base = total damage

sz 22: CA to sz 21: Sub (Jap)
Loss US: CA Indianapolis sunk

2 Trannies to sz 6 + 2 inf, Art amp> South Korea: contestet territory with USSR
This was the beginning of a divided Korea and later the Korean War

15. august - Tokyo Kid surrender

[Narvik]

@Narvik

CHINA TURN 24 - SUMMER 1945

Chiang and Mao meet in Chongqing. This start the civil war.

Ho Chi Minh start an uprising in French Indo China, now named Vietnam.

Sukarno start an uprising in Indonesia (Java) and declare independence from Holland

PURCHASE
KMT 1 Inf
CCP 5 Inf
Vietnam: Inf
Java: 2 Inf

[Narvik]

@Narvik

UK TURN 24 - SUMMER 1945

Winston resign, Attlee new UK player.

King is re-elected as the Canada player

UK take over Syria and Lebanon from France

British Somaliland: Sheik Bashir start a rebellion against UK rule

NURENBERG TRIALS BEGIN

[Narvik]

@Narvik

ITALY TURN 24 - SUMMER 1945

Tito back down. Trieste (town in Italy) is not worth a new world war.

NON-COMB MOVE
N: It: 2 Inf (Yugo) to Yugo

[Narvik]

@Narvik

ANZAC AND UK PAC TURN 24 - SUMMER 1945

Aus: Curtin dies in office. Ben is the new ANZAC player

Subas Bose, the Free India player, is assassinated

Tokyo Kid signs the surrender abord USS Missouri in sz 6.
D. MacArthur is supreme commander in Japan.

Unfortunately I miss a MacArthur figurine so Patton step in. Will edit later
Martha Gellhorn and Capa far right
Also the cleaners have startet to put away the game. Next holiday this basement will be used for the A&A 1914 game. But that will be another Blog

COMBAT
OPERATION CAPITAL
India: 4 Inf, Art, Tank (UK) + 4 Inf (Pun) + Inf (Gur) attack> Shan State: 2 Inf (JA), Inf (Siam), Inf (Free)
Loss Axis: all units

Tranny to sz 43 + Inf (UK) Inf (ANZ) amp> Borneo; Inf
Loss Jap: all units

BATTLE OF SURABAYA
TF 37: CA, DD, Tranny to sz 42 + Inf (UK), Inf (ANZ) amp> Java: 2 Inf (Indonesia)
Loss Indonesia: all units

[Narvik]

@Narvik

FRANCE TURN 24 - SUMMER 1945

Charles de Gaulle become PRESIDENT of France for job well done

Winners of the A&A Global 1939 Tournament game is:
The Allied Team: Clement, Truman, Stalin and Chiang- the Big Four

[Narvik]

@Narvik

How risky was the real WW II game for the players?

Lets look into the 9 playable powers:

3 players died in Round 23, all in april 1945.
Adolf, the german player, commited suicide because he lost the game.
Benito, the italian player, was hanged because he lost the game.

FDR was winning the game, but died of natural causes just before cashing in. An intriguing fact is that if Wendell Willkie had won the election, and become the US player, he too died during the game, in Round 21, oct 1944. So either way a vice had to finish the game. In this case Truman.

Also two ANZAC players died in office during the game. Michael Savage died in Round 3 and John Curtin in Round 24, the last round. ANZAC was played by 6 different players, starting with “Pig Iron Bob” Menzies and finishing with Ben and Fraser.

The first UK player, Neville Chamberlain, resigned in Round 3 and died in Round 5.
The most famous UK player, Winston, resigned in Round 24, the last round, and was replaced in the Victory Parade by Clement Attlee. Now that must have been disappointing to Winnie.

None of the 5 french players died but 4 of them was arrested and spent some time in prison.
Both Daladier and Reynauld were locked up at Itter Castle prison already in Round 4.
Petain and Pierre Laval got locked op in Round 21 for switching to the Axis.
de Gaulle would pop up and play France the last round, rejecting the Allied victory and keep a solo game going in the old french colonies all over the world.

Of the main 9 players only Stalin, Tokyo Kid and Chiang would play from Round 1 to the final Round 24.

Of the minor neutral non-playable powers, a lot of players would be arrested after the game, for being war criminals. Others would be assassinated during play.

Poland, the first to fight, lost 2 great players:
Ryds-Smigly in round 10 and Sikorsky in round 16.

Metaxa, playing Greece, was possible poisoned in round 6.
Tsar Boris III, playing Bulgaria, was possible poisoned in round 16.
Stauning, playing Denmark, died in round 11.
Ulmanis, playing one of the Baltic States, died in GULAG in round 13, and Smedina in round 21.
Szalasi, playing Hungary, was hanged in round 23.
Quisling, who tried to play Norway unofficial after the worlds first solo coup by a radio speech, and with no back up what so ever, and even during a german attack, in wich the german player Adolf nor any of his officers was prepared for this, is hanged in round 23.

In China, the ROC- player Wang Jingwei is killed in round 21. The other puppet players to Japan, Prince De and emperor Puyi, spent some time in GULAG, but survive a short time after round 24.
KMT-player Chiang survive round 24, but are soon to be replaced by Mao, playing CCP.

The dominion players Will King, playing Canada, and Smuts, playing South Africa, are in the game from round 1 to round 24. Now that pretty much sums it up. Hopeful we won’t see this much drama on a Con, a Turnament game in our basement with casual friends.