No Operation Sea Lion this time…and Britain ended up cleaning house as a result.
Germany decided not to go after the UK, focusing instead on the “easy” targets on the Eastern Front, including an invasion of the Middle East via amphibious assault from North Africa (bypassing UK forces in Egypt) to close the Suez. This ended up illustrating how important Gibraltar is as the destruction of Britain’s aircraft carrier by German U-boat attack (as always happens) did not end in the destruction of its fighter, which was able to land safely.
With fighter support in the Mediterranean (and a safe airport for the UK bomber), it is remarkably easy to take Northern Africa with a Canadian landing party. The Kriegsmarine falls (again) to the British navy (hail, Britania!) and it’s all but over from there.
India denies Japanese expansion into the south Pacific, causing Japan to make the hasty decision to land forces in Alaska. Despite IJN support, Japan loses half of its warships in the US counterattack (as well as Alaska). The Battle of Midway will be fought in the following turn and cost Japan most of its remaining warships.
At the end of Turn 2 we have the IJN reduced to a single carrier and fighter, Norway has been successfully taken by USA (with a bomber landed in Iceland), and France has been liberated by British tanks out of North Africa, where two UK bombers are being fueled and ready for Turn 3. The Middle East has been reclaimed, and while Russia has lost both Archangel and Karelia, they’ve taken Manchura (with Soviet tank and air support) to make up the difference). Japan is in Szechwan (one infantry unit), but the USA maintains an infantry presence in Asia (two units, bolstering the Caucasus).
Axis powers offer unconditional surrender before the beginning of Turn 3.
I don’t grok why folks feel the Allies are underpowered in this particular edition. Even if Japan had retained its naval forces, it’s difficult for me to see how Germany could have recovered and pushed back with enemies on all sides and no help on the way from the Japanese (assuming the USA plays conservative in the Pacific theater and keeps the IJN occupied). Committing to Operation Sea Lion early (rather than worry about Russia) still seems like the best option for Germany, even at the cost of the Kriegsmarine which…it would appear…faces inevitable defeat. This occurs even in games the Axis won; however, in those games Germany was able to rebuild its navy in the later stages of the game.
Please tell me what we’re missing here.
8-)