Hi Dirk,
It's harder for me to decide on my retreat when you don't publish the moves (I don't like interpreting the pictures). Maybe those are forthcoming?
-Nick
On Tue, Sep 14, 2010 at 2:59 PM, Dirk Knemeyer <dirk(at)makethinkplay.com> wrote:
(cue the gentle, soothing sounds of the pan flute)
1941. A year of love, optimism, ponies skipping thru dewy meadows...
(cue some weird futuristic band called "Rage Against the Machine"
Europe is in flames! Europe is in (bleep)ing FLAMES!!!
Ahem. On that undignified note let us review the world headlines from the last 6 months before dipping back into the boiling cauldron. Mr. Murrow?
On January 10 the U.S. Congress approved Lend-Lease, to provide war supplies to European allies.
The first fully electronic computing device, the Atanasoff-Berry Computer, is described in print for the first time on January 15.
On February 23 Glenn T. Seaborg isolates and discovers plutonium.
The first radio station in the world to broadcast on the improved FM band, W47NV in Nashville, Tennessee, begins broadcasting.
In an alternate universe, on March 30, a German Lorenz code machine operator sent a 4,000 character message twice, allowing British mathematician Bill Tutte to decipher the coding mechanism.
On April 19 celebrated playwright Bertolt Brecht staged an anti-war play, Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder in Zurich.
In late April the political jockeying around U.S. involvement in World War 2 begins to boil. Charles Lindbergh keynotes the first mass rally of the America First Committee. President Franklin D. Roosevelt publicly criticizes the American hero resulting in his resigning his commission in the U.S. Army Air Corps Reserve.
On May 1 the first Defense Bonds and Defense Savings Stamps go on sale in the United States and will fund greatly increased production of military equipment.
Also on May 1 a product called "breakfast cereal" is introduced by General Mills. Called "CheeriOats", it would go on to become Cheerios.
Also on May 1 the movie Citizen Kane premieres in New York City.
In an alternate universe, on May 9 German sub U-110 is captured. On board is the latest Enigma cryptography machine which Allied cryptographers use to break coded German messages.
On May 12 Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world's first working, programmable, fully automatic computer in Berlin.
4,000 Chongqing civilians are asphyxiated in a bomb shelter during the Japanese Bombing of Chongqing on June 5.
In an alternate universe, on June 13 TASS, the official Soviet news agency, denies reports of tension between Germany and the Soviet Union.
There is only one summer retreat: French A Gascony may retreat to Bre, Cat, Nav or off the board. Nick, please get me your retreat by Thursday at our normal adjudication time.
***
PLAYERS
Britain - sunchung / Sun Chung / sun.chung(at)gmail.com
France - DrSwordopolis / Nick Powell / nick.s.powell(at)gmail.com
Germany - charlesf / Charles Feaux de la Croix / charlesf(at)web.de
Italy (and Nationalist Spain) - raistlin / David Gould / davidchegould(at)bigpond.com
Poland - smileyrob / Robert Stein / smileyrob68(at)gmail.com
Turkey - Wladimir7 / Wladimir Mysonski / wmysonski(at)gmail.com
USSR (and Republican Spain) - Nitsch / Karsten Nitsch / karsten.nitsch(at)gmx.de
***
HEADLINES
British army comes ashore in Picardy
Gascony falls as enemies continue to encroach Cooperation with Polish proves impotent for Wehrmacht; defensive pact with British seems apparent Italians and Spanish conspire to slam British out of the south
Retreat north signals shift in policy and ambition for Poles Soviets encourage Turkish encroachment into former homelands Turkish and Italian juggernauts seem content with one another's ongoing expansion
***
And now, for a GM's best friend, player press!
Eastern Ukraine, Crimean Peninsula, Sevastopol
The tides of war never stop turning - a lesson the Polish troops occupying the Eastern Ukraine by now will have learned. The recent days might be a turning point in the sheer unstoppable advance of the Polish Armed Cavalry, their ranks bolstered by the tanks of their German allies. After having won one of the bloodiest battles of the war so far at Sevastopol, burning two thirds of the strategically important city to ashes, the Soviet remnants were driven into the countryside, scattering in the snow-covered plains. The more surprised was the Polish Generality, as the reconnaissance found the remaining Soviet Army holding on to Stalingrad advancing in full force towards Sevastopol. With the Polish line of communication constantly harassed by Soviet attacks, the lines of defense built slower tan expected, and more forces were relocated to meet the desperate Soviets in the plains before they could once again dig in the ruined streets of Sevastopol. A small series of skirmishes began, drawing more and more attention to the north towards Kharkov and away from the Crimean Peninsula. Polish troops closed in on the Soviet army, trying to cut the route to Stalingrad and circumvent it southwards - expecting to be the anvil for the Polish hammer from Moscow to fall - they took the bait Stalin had prepared...
With the coastal lines of Odessa and Sevastopol only defended with a minimum garrison, Turkish troops launched a major naval assault and amphibious landing. Within 3 days, the Turkish troops were able to secure a coastal strip as far as 60 km inland from Odessa and 85 km inland from Sevastopol, amassing heavy artillery and AT guns in the area. While in the north-east, the Soviet army withdrew, the Polish found themselves with one option left: retreat to Kiev, now facing a closed Turkish front line ranging from Chisinau, Moldavia to Zaporozhye, Eastern Ukraine. The tides of war never stop turning, they say...
Destroyed coastal guns at Fort Maxim Gorky I, Sevastopol, Russia
***
Orders:
Britain: F Belgium Supports F NetherlandsF Denmark Supports A Hamburg (*Cut*)
A London - PicardyF Madrid - South-Western Approaches (*Disbanded*)F Netherlands Supports F BelgiumF Atlantic Ocean Supports F Madrid - South-Western ApproachesF English Channel Convoys A London - Picardy
F Helgoland Bight Supports F Denmark
France: A Gascony - Burgundy (*Dislodged*)A Paris Supports A Gascony - Burgundy (*Cut*)
Germany:
A Czechia - Austria (*Bounce*)A Hamburg Supports A MunichA Munich Supports A Hamburg (*Cut*)A Rhineland Supports A Hamburg
Italy: A Burgundy - Gascony
A Croatia - SloveniaA Hungary - Slovakia (*Fails*)A Lorraine - Paris (*Fails*)A Marseille Supports A Burgundy - GasconyA Milan - South TyrolF Morocco Supports F Gibraltar - South-Western Approaches
A Rome - Austria (*Bounce*)A Switzerland - Munich (*Fails*)F Tyrrhenian Sea - Western Mediterranean (*Fails*)F Western Mediterranean - Gibraltar (*Fails*)
Poland:
A Byelorussia Supports A MoscowA Cracow - VolhyniaA Leningrad - ArchangelA Moscow Supports A Leningrad - ArchangelA Slovakia Supports A Czechia - Austria (*Cut*)
F Sweden - Denmark (*Fails*)A Transylvania - CracowA Western Ukraine Supports A Transylvania - CracowF Gulf of Danzig - Baltic Sea
Turkey: A Ankara - Eastern Anatolia
A Bulgaria Supports A RumaniaA Egypt HoldA Iran - KazakhstanA Istanbul - Eastern UkraineA Rumania Supports A Istanbul - Eastern UkraineA Serbia - Transylvania
A Siberia Supports A Iran - KazakhstanF Suez - Arabian SeaF Black Sea Convoys A Istanbul - Eastern UkraineF Eastern Mediterranean - SuezF Libyan Sea Hold
USSR: A Stalingrad Supports A Istanbul - Eastern Ukraine
Republican_Spain: A Burgos - MadridF Gibraltar - South-Western Approaches (*Bounce*)A Portugal Supports A Burgos - Madrid
***Ownership of supply centers
Britain: Belgium, Denmark, Edinburgh, Liverpool, London, Madrid, Netherlands, Norway.
France: Brest, Paris.
Germany: Berlin, Czechia, Hamburg, Munich.
Italy: Algiers, Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Marsailles, Milan, Morocco, Naples, Rome, Switzerland, Tripoli.
Poland: Cracow, Finland, Gdynia, Latvia, Leningrad, Lithuania, Moscow, Sweden, Warsaw.
Turkey: Ankara, Beirut, Bulgaria, Egypt, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Istanbul, Izmir, Rumania, Serbia, Suez.
USSR: Stalingrad.
Republican_Spain: Burgos, Portugal, Valencia.
Britain: 8 Supply centers, 8 Units: Builds 0 units.
France: 2 Supply centers, 2 Units: Builds 0 units.
Germany: 4 Supply centers, 4 Units: Builds 0 unit.
Italy: 11 Supply centers, 11 Units: Builds 1 units.
Poland: 9 Supply centers, 9 Units: Builds 0 units.
Turkey: 12 Supply centers, 12 Units: Builds 2 unit.
USSR: 1 Supply center, 1 Units: Removes 1 unit.
Republican_Spain: 3 Supply center, 3 Units: Builds 0 unit.
***
Upcoming Deadlines (all orders are due at 5 PM EST, GMT -5) Summer 1941 Retreats, Thursday September 16
Fall 1941 Prelims, Friday September 17 Fall 1941 Orders, Tuesday September 21
Winter 1941 Retreats and Adjustments, Thursday September 23 Spring 1942 Prelims, Friday September 24 Spring 1942 Orders, Tuesday September 28
