A very strange war with just outcome!

It somehow happened that in my ~10 sessions of Churchill so far I had a chance to play only 3-turns Training Scenario (introducing me players) or full 10-turn Campaign. This time we had full evening and decided to chose 5-turn Tournament Scenario.

I was surprised how open the set-up in this scenario is. What I mean is how minimal advances were made by Allies in first 5 conferences – and there is still tons of possibilities for all sides to explore. There is however one exception – you can clearly see on below set-up photo that Churchill (successfully) was pushing his Mediterranean strategy:

It was also first time when we played with secret agenda – and it indeed had some impact at the end of the game. However, I think not a decisive one as other events really influenced the situation more.

Let us now see conference by conference what happened and how things unfolded. For the clarity what happened, all issues on Conference part of board are left intentionally at places where they were finally debated.

TURN 6 (London A)

6.1 Conference – tie-breaking ability of Americans is a useful weapon; this is first – but not last – time when Marcin wins conference thanks to this . During the fight for issues, my Western Allies moved Second Front from central position. That would have long-lasting consequences…

6.2 Europe – … as Second Front in Europe is not moving forward my Soviets are not able to progress forward on Eastern Front. But Mediterranean of course conquests Rome.

6.3 Pacific – here we observe mixed results, with only one out of three active fronts in Asia progressing.

6.4 A-Bomb – both USSR as well as Americans manage to have a break-through in their works on “super weapon”.

Situation after this round is still manageable, however Second Front – stalled in UK – is a bad prognostic.

TURN 7 (Quebec C)

7.1 Conference – this time Churchill using his special ability wins conference and additionally – changes one of the Global issues. Also, my attempt to move some things “in right direction” (i..e declare war on Japan by my soviet Government) was torpedoed by US, who stopped to believe we can do anything in Europe thus USSR assistance in Asia will not be needed. Well, that is consequence of Second Front not being put on the table…

7.2 Europe – no second front was discussed, thus no Normandy landing. UK was looking at USA and vice versa to do it so nobody put this on negotiation table in the end. The only progress is made by Mediterranean front reaching Norther Italy and me building enough fleet in Arctic to have one more production.

7.3 Pacific – nice progress by Americans and British, but if game finishes like this inter-service rivalry will have big consequences.

7.4 A-Bomb – another good turns for Western and Eastern allies, as both researches progress. This is definitely the most advanced “theater” (if I can say so) on the table.

TURN 8 (Moscow C)

8.1 Conference – it was a long debate and in the end USA won by tie breaking procedure (told you, that is pretty useful!). But UK gets second Global Issue on their side!

8.2 Europe – complete stalemate in that Theater – no front progresses – this is despite me amassing huge army which had 80% chance (18-10) of progressing. But I roll 9… Political situation starts to be tense – there are no free spaces to put clandestine markers / political alignments.

8.3 Pacific – Central Pacific and CBI fronts move on. My Russians can only observe that progress from away that progress.

8.4 A-Bomb – not discussed this turn

TURN 9 (Yalta A)

9.1 Conference – wow, that was not nice. My Western Allies not only forget completely about Second Front but also – in case of tie between UK and USSR – chosen the first one as winner of conference. At leas my political imperium starts to grow rapidly.

9.2 Europe – “All Quiet on the European Front”.

9.3 Pacific – No progress in Pacific by Americans! However, UK again moves on.

9.4 A-Bomb – US has its bomb! But USSR is catching up quickly! Interestingly, US passed all the roles for A-Bomb during the game.

TURN 10 (Potsdam C)

10.1 Conference – fierce fight for domination finally won by Churchill with 3 Pol-Mil issues! In total, that conference had all 4 Pol-Mil issues debated and won. A lot of changes on political map to be expected.

10.2 Europe – no move on fronts but government changes both in Eastern and Western Europe (due to “Free Europe”)

10.3 Pacific – nice progress of both American fronts and tons of Victory points.

10.4 A-Bomb – USSR finally researches its bomb – another 3 points acquired!

FINAL SCORING AND SUMMARY

Our final scoring was in large impacted by two factors. First, USSR (me) and US (Marcin) managed to fulfill two second objectives while UK (Konrad) only one.  Secondly, none of Axis surrender! So we had to perform special procedure, and for the first time in the game my Soviets took a lead!

The final results were kind of surprising but just:

1. Michal (Stalin) 47
2. Marcin (Roosevelt / Truman) 46
3. Konrad (Churchill) 44

So, my Western Allies disregarded Second Front, prevented my declaration of war with Japan and denied my one conference win – as a result, reaped the fruits of such behavior – unstable world, where the end result of post-war situation was uncertain. The USSR victory was really unexpected 🙂