Round 12, Match 16 Status Report

Richard Tucker (Allies) vs. Brad Solberg (Axis)

German FlagItalian Flag

Axis wins by 6 POC as Allies surrender after Turn 5.

======================================================================== Turn:             1      2      3      4      5      6      7      8 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Axis POC:                    +5           +6                  Allied POC:                  -3           -5                  ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Net POC:                    +2           +1                 Cumulative POC:       +2     +4     +5     +6                  ========================================================================

Turn 1

Details not provided.

Turn 2

Details not provided.

Turn 3

With the fleet reunited the Germans decide to challenge the blocade using the Italian presence in France to draw support away from the Barents. The damaged Sharnhorst blockades Leningrad and a trap is set for the British Barents Fleet.

First U-boats attack, during stormy weather. The U-Boats are driven off but the fleet is then hit by a squall which scatters it (a BB and BC failed speed rolls, 1 sub sunk, others disabled). As the weather clears, Luftwaffe damages Ark Royal slightly and drives off the Hood.

As King George V and the remaining cruisers sail through the fog, radar-guided German gunnery smashes into them. Only King George V has the range to return fire, damaging Bismark and driving off Admiral Scheer. The German fire shatters Dorsetshire and Cumberland, damages Suffolk and batters King George V to pieces.

The remaining British cruisers flee, leaving the stricken Ark Royal to the mercy of Tirpitz and Prinz Eugen...the damaged propeller slowing it just enough that Tirpitz can get it under its guns. Together they had no trouble sinking the carrier.

A good turn for Axis, but nothing will bring back the smaller half of its surface fleet. The British casualties make the attrition more respectable but they are replacing the ships as fast as they are being sunk - the British fleet is just as large (if you count Anson = 2 CA) on turn 4 as it was on turn 1. The same can not be said of the Axis fleet although the ship quality is higher. With Americans and Russians in the future the Axis is still going to need a lot of luck in future turns.

Axis: Berents, Baltic, Mediterranean
Allied: North Atlantic, South Atlantic, North Sea

Axis +2 = net Axis +4

Attrition:
British: 456,443,336,117x2,0273,0162
German: 357, 225x2, 127x2

Turn 4

Details not provided.

Turn 5

The veteran Luftwaffe pilots were loaded on the Graf Zepplin, so the second convoy arrives safely in Russia as rookies get lost in the fog. In return, the Marat sails out to face the damaged Sharnhorst, but is sunk by U-boats before they can engage.

In the South Atlantic Eagle sinks one U-boat but is then torpedoed, leaving the remaining forces free to attack merchant shipping. The American fleet, bolstered by the two surviving cruisers of the Barents debacle, encounters the remaining German fleet. Each side sends one BB home with airstrikes (fuel supplies damaged) and the remaining forces duke it out. The Germans get the worst of the exchange, Washington crippling Bismark and the British cruisers torpedoing Admiral Scheer. But then the Italians (late as usual) ambush the American cruiser and sink it.

Meanwhile the Brits and Americans close in for the kill, sinking Graf Zepplin and crippling Prinz Eugen. Desperate torpedo spreads launched by the doomed ships (plus some ineffectual anti-aircraft gun fire from the Bismark) strike the Washington, overwhelming the damage control and sinking the ship.

Things look grim, as the British cruisers, with two kills under their belts, head for the crippled Germans. But the absence of the American cruiser is now made clear, as the Supermarina cruisers catch the British in their floodlights. The British go down to a series of torpedoes and light gunnery from the cruisers. The Supermarina then chased down the Formidable, while the crippled Germans slunk back to Germany, probably never to sail again except in the Baltic. Truimphant, the Supermarina goes on to terrorize merchant shipping in the North Atlantic.

With the fall of France the Supermarina will not be able to return to the North Atlantic unless they want to be impounded. But the damage has been done.

Control: Allies: Barents, North Sea
Convoy 2b lands in Russia
Axis: Mediterranean, Baltic Sea, North Atlantic
Axis +1 = net Axis +6

Attrition:
American: 554,117
Russian: 333
British: 456,443,336,117x4,0273,0272,0162,1241,133(convoy), 553x2,443 damaged, 0272 crippled
German: 357, 225x3, 127x2,1282, 357 damaged, 496, 127 crippled, U-Boats at full strength for turn 6
Italian: no losses or damage

> Brad
>
> The Allies surrender unconditionally. Good game.
>
> Richard

I'm somewhat amazed to have won on turn 5 after losing 5 Germans on turns 1-2. I had excellent luck in the Barents on turn 3, and an error in ASW deployment on turn 4 was probably the key to the game. (I was able to make up my German losses by combining with the Italians in either North Atlantic or South Atlantic on a turn when he *had* to land a Convoy in Russia). If North Sea had been stronger I would not have been able to spare U-boats to South Atlantic. In that case it would have been two 1-1-1 cripples vs three 1-1-7 cruisers and the Germans would have had no fleet, not sunk one carrier and not held the North Atlantic. I might have tried South Atlantic but it was stronger and the way Richard was rolling I might have lost there even with the Italians.

We'd still be playing in spite of that except for another piece of luck...sinking the first convoy with a single Luftwaffe shot. I also started getting a lot of luck sinking carriers - average 1 per turn starting turn 2. All in all a good game, with plenty of tension until the final round of fire.

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