Initial Thoughts
The Allies start the fall 1940 turn in a precarious situation due to there being a 3-3 infantry on a beachhead SE of London. France is still alive, but barely. There is almost no chance that France will survive another turn. The Axis airborne unit threatens a drop on Paris or on Great Britain.

This turn will demonstrate the proper way to deny the Axis player Vichy units by sending the French on kamikaze missions.

Start
DoW: None

Options:
GB: west offensive, med pass, east attrition. This costs GB 15 BRPs (down to 64 –and she’ll lose 20 this turn when she does not take Poland).

France: west offensive, med offensive, east attrition. This costs France 30 BRPs (down to 14). Yes, I know France can’t even counter-attack next turn, but it wouldn’t matter because when I’m done France will have hardly any units left—by design.

Russia: pass in the west and med, attrition in the east.

Voluntary destruction of units: Yes. GB destroys the 1-3 infantry in Egypt that is isolated. If it were on Port Said it could possibly slow the Axis down. The Axis would attrition, and if their roll was high enough GB would lose the 1-3 infanty on Port Said and Malta. However, since I messed up last turn with the infantry’s placement in Egypt, I will destroy it so I can build it later this turn or next turn.

Airborne Considerations
Only France has tanks on the board, but one is in Paris, and the other in Africa. I can’t exploit. There is no way to get a tank next to his airborne unit and deny it the opportunity to airdrop by exerting a ZOC on it.

Movement
I was concerned that if my attack on the infantry in England failed that he would then occupy London and Paris on his turn. If that were to happen then I’d have no supply source. So, the 6 fleet moves to the US box from Portsmouth. I want to be able to counterattack on London instead of having no unit in supply except the one on Gibraltar (because he might just intercept that fleet on Gibraltar and then I’d lose the game…so, the safer thing is to move the fleet to the US box).

The Germans choose to stay home instead of attempting to intercept the British fleet movement to the US. Less fleets in the North Sea/English Channel means less chance the German’s plans are interfered with.

GB moves the 3-4 from hex J25 (the beach hex NE of Harwich) down to Portsmouth. There are now 12 infantry that can attack the lone 3-3 German infantry. Since you can only add 3 times the air power as the base power of a unit, at most the Germans can add in 9 DAS which will give him 15 defense. I already have 12. If I send in 3 GS then the Germans have to decide whether they want to risk 9 air in what has an 83% chance of losing all their air and the infantry. They will choose not to do that and abandon the infantry, leaving the British with 15:6 odds.

The French, meanwhile, move all their infantry and units next to Axis units in preparation for a grand kamikaze mission. The French are obedient, just not very good at killing panzers. As you probably noticed, in the past when I’ve gone kamikaze with my guys I can’t seem to roll 1s. It also happens that the Germans haven’t rolled a 1 on their exploitation attacks yet either, which is frustrating, but that’s how it goes.

The infantry in Italy move next to the Axis units (I captured Venice in the process), as do the infantry in Africa, as do the infantry in France. The attacks will come at low odds, but they will be against his expensive panzer units in France. PLEASE roll a 1!

It looks like this in France and Italy:

It looks like this in Tunisia and Algeria:

Combat
As I explained above, GB will fly 3 GS from Liverpool onto the Germany infantry on the beach.

Germany realizes attacks are coming against his units, but there are so many possibilities of where the attacks might go against. Germany flies 1 DAS on the lone tank on Calais. That way if I attack it with my isolated 2-3 French infantry it would be 1:5 odds and I’d automatically die (no chance to kill that tank with a 1).

Germany flies 5 DAS on hex O23. There are 2 panzers there that exploited. He has 21 power there now.

Germany flies 3 DAS on hex O24. There are 2 panzers there. He has 19 power there now.

Germany flies 3 DAS on hex N23. There are 2 panzers there that exploited. He has 19 power there now.

I attack L23. 3-4 x 4 (12) + 3 GS (3) = 15 vs. 3 (doubled to 6). 2:1. I rolled a 1 (EX). I’m wanting to roll 1s, just not on that attack. GB loses 2 infantry from London, and the German infantry on the beach dies. One of the 3-4 units from Portsmouth will advance.

I attack O23. 2-3 x 2 (P23) + 2-3 x 2 (P22) = 8 vs. 8 (doubled to 16) + 5 GS = 21. 8:21. 1:3 odds. I rolled a 1 (EX). Yeah! I finally did some damage. 1 panzer is killed. All the French units die.

I attack N23. 2-3 (M24) + 2-3 (N24) + 2-3 (N22) + 2-3 (Paris) = 8 vs. 8 (doubled to 16) + 3 GS = 19. 8:19. 1:3 odds. I rolled a 4 (A). All my guys died. No losses for the Germans.

I attack hex CC13 in Algeria. 3-5 French tank vs. 2-5 Italian. 3:4. 1:2 Def CA 1:2. I rolled a 5 (A). Crud. I was hoping for an exchange of some sort there. French tank dies. No losses for the Italians.

I attack hex DD16 in Tunisia. 2-3 french infantry on Tunis vs. 1-3 Italian infantry. 2:2. 1:1 Def CA 1:2 odds. I rolled a 2 (CA), and then a 2 (ex). The French and Italian units die.

In the next picture, I’ve placed all the units that died this turn in the sea to the west of France. It was a glorious day for the Axis as they decimated the French and lost only a little in return.

How I Determined What to Attack With in France
Before I started this turn I realized that the Axis would get a double turn because I was going to lose 20 BRPs for Poland and I had to take an offensive with GB in order to remove the infantry on the beach there. Taking an offensive with GB meant that France either had to join (spending another 15 BRPs) or pass. Even if France passed on all fronts the Axis would still be able to get a double turn.

Knowing the Axis would get a double turn means I have no chance to hold onto France. With that decided, I also did not want him to attrition France to death like Rokeater does to Poland. So, I counted up the number of spaces next to Paris that I could SR my RC units to. He could get 8 tanks and some infantry next to my units in France. At most he would be able to attrition on the 31-40 column. At most he could kill 4 units from attrition and I’d just lose my 4 French RC units. In other words, if he attritions, I’d end my turn with my tank still on Paris no matter what. This means that he will not be able to attrition me to death next turn. This will force him to spend at least 15 BRPs on an offensive option to take out France. It will also force him to kill the remaining tank on Paris. Besides the French Navy (which will be halved) there will only be 4 RC units left (and those will get halved). His Vichy units will consist of 2 RC counters. That’s the proper way to deny the German forces.

Construction
GB loses 20 BRPs for not taking Poland. GB down to 44.

Next, it is time to construct.

France does an intelligence roll for 5 BRPs and is now down to 9. The French roll is unopposed. Ended in an 8 (causing the German to reveal his Strategic Warfare factors). Germany built 7 subs. I built 1 SAC, and 4 anti-subs. So, all next year the Germans will have to play minus 1 of his 5-4 air units. GB will also lose 9 BRPs at the 1941 YSS.

Russia has nothing to build.

Before I construct I start to think about all the different ways that, if I were the Axis, I could attack Great Britain.

I realize the critical error I’ve made last turn (the error I asked if anyone recognized a better way to have played the allies Summer 1940 turn).

What I should have done last turn
The problem for the Allies is that, even without their fleets, they can defend GB against the Axis invading …BUT ONLY IF the Axis do not get a double turn, or alternatively, if the airborne is either dead on the first Axis turn, or in a tank’s ZOC on the first Axis turn. Of course, if the Axis player builds his other 2 fleets, then the Axis do pose a threat to GB and GB has to play differently than I’ve shown in the previous session reports.

So long as the Axis and Allies are trading turns back and forth the Allies can likely push the Axis out of whatever beach the Axis land on in GB. Additionally, as long as the Germans only have 2 boats on the mapboard they do not pose a serious threat.

Contrast that with an Axis double turn. With a double turn the Allies cannot defend every beach adequately, nor can they get the turn to push the Axis out if they do land. With the double turn the Axis can take a beach and then on their second turn use the units from that beachhead to clear out a port and SR units in.

Alternatively, the British do not have enough units to defend all the hexes with cities. The Axis can air drop on their first turn onto a city. Then on their second turn they can drop an airbase down on that city, fly in 10 Axis air, and eliminate the GB air defense. The Axis then have total air superiority and they can take out a beach and/or port and SR in tanks.

So, how do the Allies prevent this? I had an opportunity to prevent this last turn. When I got my tank onto Antwerp I was excited because I had put a ZOC on the German airborne unit. I also thought I was doing the right thing by continuing to hold initiative. I was wrong. With the airborne unable to do anything on the Axis turn, I should have went kamikaze that turn with the French so that I would have killed a bunch of guys and then been able to rebuild them all. I had plenty of GB air to build. I could have ensured that the Axis would have gotten the double turn. And I could have ensured that the first turn of the Axis double turn the airborne would have been neutralized.

At that point in time the Axis would have been unable to get into GB and would have used their double turn to take out France with their infantry/tanks.

Since I know the double turn is eventually coming, and since I know France will die anyway, I should have used the advantage I had last turn, but I failed to see it until this turn when I seriously thought about if GB had enough units to defend itself properly. It does, but not if the Axis get a double turn with the airborne.

How to Defend the Beaches this Turn
I started going through many different permutations of how the defense could be on GB. I realized that with a 9 and 8 factor fleets he could only attack with 5 infantry. The rule about adding in only 3 times the basic factor means that he could add in at most 15 air to an amphibious assault. That would bring his total up to 20 points. He could throw in the airborne and bring it up to a maximum of 23. If the Germans build more boats they can get more than 23.

One of the exceptions to the rules is that the beach forces are tripled no matter what against an amphibious invasion (even if the airborne drops on them). Thus, if I put 4 power on a beach it will be tripled to 12. Since he currently can only get a maximum of 23 power he will never get better than 1:1 odds. It would be unwise to risk excess air in a 1:1 attack. So, if he attacks a beach he should attack with 5 infantry and 9 air. That would give him 14 power against my 12. Even on an exchange he loses his air and his 3-3 infantry, but the 2-3 lent Italian unit makes it ashore. That would be an expensive landing, costing him 9 air (27 BRPs) and a 3-3 infantry (3 BRPs) for a total of 30 BRPs. There’s also the chance that I kill more of his fleet factors with my GB air and that one of his infantry drowns in the sea. If that happened, then he would not make it ashore on an exchange and he’d have lost 30 BRPs and not gotten ashore.

Additionally, all the beach hexes are important to GB. I cannot skimp on some in favor of the others. If Germany takes one of the beaches next to London on his first turn, then he can use whatever units are there (likely a 3-3 infantry and a 2-3 infantry) plus his airborne dropping on London (untripling the defense). Since he’d have a 3-3 and 2-3 on the beach plus his airborne, he’d have 8 ground power. He could then add in 3 times this in air or add in 24 air for a total of 32 total. Even if I put all 3 tanks on London I’d only have 12 power (doubled to 24). He’d be able to get a 1:1 attack on London, losing all his air if necessary on an exchange to sit with 5 ground + his airborne for 8 total to defend on my counterattack. He’d also still have his air to intercept all my GB air (and he has more air than GB, so actually he could add in DAS that I couldn’t stop). He’d take London that way and I wouldn’t be able to stop it. Plus, if I put all 3 tanks on London for maximum defense there then I do not have enough to defend everywhere else.

The beach to the east of London is vitally important. If he takes that and air drops on Great Yarmouth, then he has a beachhead filled with units that I can’t attrition him out of, and he keeps SR’ing in units to Great Yarmouth every turn. I can’t let him get that one. The same applies in the western most beach next to Plymouth. If he lands there, he will use those units with air power and his airborne to clear out Plymouth and the hex to the north of the beach and then he will SR in units every turn to Plymouth and have a beachhead that I can’t attrition him out of.

Okay, with that figured out, I thus need to defend every beach with at least 4 power. That will deter him from trying to amphibious assault. Well…it will deter him until he builds more boats. The problem for GB is that as the board sits now in this game I have to build a lot in order to defend properly.

Defending the Ports From an Airborne Drop
The next problem for GB is that the airborne unit can drop onto a port. I can’t leave Harwich, Great Yarmouth, Portsmouth, Rosyth, or Plymouth empty. If I left a port open, the German will designate a supply boat (his 8 fleet) and then drop the airborne on that port without any risk to his airborne. He would also use his airborne to attack units adjacent to the port because if the airborne drops on a vacant hex it can attack adjacent hexes. If Germany gets the port for free and clears out the hexes next to the port, he could SR in 1 tank (his 8 was used for supply) on his first turn. He’d then construct two boats, and take his second turn and sea transport in tanks, clear out the space next to the port and SR in more tanks. Game over for GB if he does that.

All the above is to show that I cannot leave Harwich, Great Yarmouth, Portsmouth, Rosyth, or Plymouth empty.

Defending London from an Airborne Drop
The Axis can also drop on London, though that risks losing the airborne permanently unless there are units next to London. Since the airborne is only 3 power he can add in 9 GS. He can intercept all the British DAS. So the Axis can get 12 on the attack on London. If I have 6 power on London, then it is doubled to 12 and it is a risky 1:1 attack. He has a 50% chance to roll a D, or CA. Even on a counter-attack exchange, he just loses his air and the airborne survives, takes London, and with London gone, so is the GB supply source (all GB units out of supply now) and the only hope for GB to retake London is to get a fleet to the USA box (survive interception attempts by the numerically superior Germans…which is unlikely). Thus, to prevent him from dropping on London I have to have at least 7 power on London. That way it is doubled to 14 and dropping on London would then give him a 1:2 attack. He won’t risk losing the airborne permanently on a 1:2 attack with the only hope of succeeding is if he rolls a 3 (counter-attack).

The weakest point for GB in the above are the beaches. Assuming Germany gets ashore on his first turn with some infantry, if I leave the path to London wide open then he will move next to it, air drop on London and with the combined airborne and infantry base power he will be able to take London. I therefore, have to not only defend the beaches, but take advantage of the river Thames around London. It is important to guard the hexes east of London between London and the beach, and at the least put a unit west of London so that if he takes one of the beaches south of London he will have to attack across the river (tripling my defense unless he also airdrops). If I leave no unit to block his path then he will walk to NW of London and untriple me without risking his airborne.

All the above means the following requirements if GB wants to survive:
1) Every beach has to have at least 4 power
2) I cannot leave Harwich, Great Yarmouth, Portsmouth, Plymouth, or Rosyth empty
3) I must have at least 7 power on London.
4) I must have one unit west of London and one unit on Harwich and north of Harwich to block his path from the beach to the NE of Harwich.

I then start thinking about possible ways to configure all that, and I know that if I put a 9 factor fleet on Portsmouth he cannot amphibious assault there. But he can air drop on Portsmouth. If I have nothing but a fleet on Portsmouth, he’ll just designate his 8 for supply, airdrop on Portsmouth (displacing my fleet), attack with his air one of the beaches hexes next to Portsmouth (probably the hex directly west of London) and end his first turn like that. He’d then construct boats, and sea transport in tanks to Portsmouth, march through the gap his airborne created and take out London. So that’s not a plan either. In other words, putting a fleet on Portsmouth does not prevent him from taking London. Portsmouth has to have ground units too, in order to force the airborne (if it drops on Portsmouth) to attack the ground unit there and no adjacent hexes.

I figure out that in order to accomplish all the above, GB has to build all its units and won’t have money left over for an offensive attack. Unfortunately, rule 15.56 says France cannot grant its leftover BRPs to anyone until 1942. So, I have a decision, a tough one to make.

If I build enough units to accomplish the above, I will not have 15 BRPs left and if there is any hole in my thinking then I will be unable, on my turn, to take an offensive option. If he gets into London, I’ve guaranteed to lose because I can only attrition.

If I don’t build enough units to protect myself, then he will likely get into London, but I would have money for a counterattack.

I chose what I felt was the safer option, and went for the option where he does not get into London, but leaves me vulnerable to only being able to attrition on my next turn.

What I Actually Built
GB built: 3-4 infantry x3 (9) + 1 RC (1) + 1-3 infantry x2 (2) + 4-5 tank x3 (24) + 2-5 tank x1 (4) = 40. GB ends with 4 BRPs.

Russia built nothing.

GB also put its last airbase on the board next to Scapa Flow. I don’t have fleets to occupy Scapa Flow. But I put the airbase next to it so that if he invades there he cannot SR into Scapa Flow on his first turn. He would be able to sea escort into Scapa on his 2nd turn and move 6 spaces, but I was hoping if he did that I would be able to move north and stop him next to Rosyth. I simply do not have enough units to defend the stuff next to London and also Scapa Flow. So I have to leave Scapa empty and Rosyth with only a single RC factor. It’s the most conservative defense I can figure out (maybe there is something I’m not seeing or a better way to defend. If there is, please let me know).

SR
I learned from my mistake last turn. If the French boat had stayed in the English Channel he probably never would have invaded the beach in GB beause my French fleet would have intercepted and he would have lost both German factors and destroyed part of the French (future Vichy fleet). It was a mistake for me to not have French fleet(s) in the English Channel.

France SRs both its 9 factor fleets to the English Channel. I put them on two different ports, Cherbourg, and Brest. This is on purpose so that during the German player’s turn I will have two different chances to intercept. There’s always the possibility of rolling a 6 and failing to intercept. I want to have two rolls so that those odds are less, so I divide my two fleets between two ports to increase my chances of at least one French boat intercepting. France also brings the 2 RC units out of Italy and into the Western Front so that if the German attritions, France will have 4 RC counters to lose on the western front.

My final defense in GB looks like this:

Note: Germany has 10 air on the Hague that are partially obscured in the picture. That’s an airbase counter on Paris under the tank.

In hindsight, you’ll notice that I have 7 power on the beaches at J25 and L21. I only needed a bare bones of 4 power there to force the 1:1 attack. The reason I put more is the following: My thinking was that if I were the German, especially on hex J25, I would do the amphibious assault at 1:1 odds on J25. If it fails, oh well, Germany loses 5 infantry. If it succeeds, then during exploitation Germany airdrops onto Great Yarmouth and for sure kill the RC unit there. Germany then uses his second turn to sea transport and SR men in every turn and GB falls quickly. The same thing can be done by taking the beach at L21 and then taking out Plymouth by air drop. If you land troops at L21 and airdrop on Plymouth you do not face losing the airborne permanently because you have ground units on the beach adjacent to Plymouth. I felt the best deterrent would be to buff the beaches at J25 and L21considerably. With 7 power tripled to 21, he could still get 23 and advance on an exchange with his 2-3 lent Italian infantry, but to do so would mean all the other units that attacked (including the airborne) would have to die. He’d have to choose to lose the airborne permanently if he wanted to take the beach on an exchange. That was my thinking. Rokeater is conservative. Some people may take that risk, but I felt that if I had 7 power then he would be deterred and not attack J25 or L21. Those are actually the most dangerous beaches for GB.

So, in hindsight I have the bare minimum of 4 power on every beach. I technically could use the excess 3-4 infantry elsewhere instead of putting them on J25 or L21, but as shown above, that is extremely dangerous. I also have 9 power on London which is a little more than the bare minimum 7 I need. I could have used the 2-5 tank elsewhere and still maintained my defense. I also should have voluntarily destroyed the guy on Malta and used him to defend GB. Besides, those Malta infantry have been taking it easy all game and seen no combat action while everyone else is fighting for their lives. I’ve intentionally left the north (Scapa and Rosyth) extremely bare, but I chose that because if I skimped elsewhere Germany would for sure beat GB. If I can survive 4 or 5 more turn then Russia, and later the USA, will be in the game and I still might win. Plus, Germany might make a mistake and I’d catch up some.

Also, for those of you wondering why I kept the unit on Gibraltar, here’s why: He gets a double turn. Although having my 9 fleet there stops him from an amphibious assault, he can attack Casablanca and SR his airborne there. If I have no ground unit on Gibraltar then he would use his 2nd turn to airdrop onto Gibraltar, displacing my fleet, making me lose 25 BRPs immediately, and freeing the Italian navy to come join the fight immediately in the English channel. I simply have to leave that unit there until there is no other choice (e.g. the fear of losing 25 BRPs is outweighed by the fear of losing GB entirely).

The whole map at the end of the Allies Fall 1940 turn looks like this:

The Axis go next and they will get a double turn (unless they declare war on Russia, but that would be dumb).