Ralph Boerke's Tribute to Axis & Allies
Disclaimer: Axis & Allies is a registered trademark of Milton Bradley. The use of their trademark 'Axis & Allies' by Tacit Memnos Infinitum is not approved by Milton Bradley.
These pages will attempt to link Axis & Allies to the scenario that it is emulating. The pages are split into the Theaters of Operation (where the actual battles of WWII were fought) and the Simplification of War (how A&A attempts to simulate aspects of WWII).
Theaters of Operation [Top]
We can relate the play of the game somewhat to the real situation in World War II. Every book I've read on WWII always separates the war into its theaters of operations or major campaigns. From The Historical Atlas of WW II by John Pimlott, Henry Holt & Company, (A Henry Holt Reference Book I purchased from Barnes and Noble) I've plagarized/paraphrased these headings:
The Axis Ascendant:
Poland (Russo-German Invasion of), The Winter War (Russo-Finn), Battle
of the Atlantic (Sea War between Germany and England), The West (Norway
& Denmark; followed by France & the Low Countries), Battle
of Britain (Air War), North Africa (East Africa and the Western Desert),
The Balkans (The Conquest of Greece), The Nazi-Soviet War (Barbarossa to
Stalingrad), Japan & China (Sino-Japanese Rivalry), Japan & the
Allies (Pearl Harbour, Philippines, Burma, Coral Sea).
Turning the Tide: [A&A Turning the
Tide]
Battle of the Atlantic, North Africa, German Advance on the Caucasus (Stalingrad,
Leningrad, Kharkov, and Kursk), Midway, Guadalcanal, New Guinea, Burma.
Allied Offensives:
Sicily & Italy, Eastern Front (Leningrad, the Ukraine, the Balkans),
France (Overlord, Normandy, Paris, Dragon), Pacific Islands (Gilberts & Marshalls,
Mariana & Palau, Philippine Sea, Leyte), Burma.
The Allies Victorious:
The Bulge and the Rhein, The End in Italy, Vistula-Oder Campaigns, The
Balkans, Berlin, Burma Liberated, Philippines Liberated, Iwo Jima & Okinawa,
and Japan (Atomic Bombs and the Soviet Invasion of Manchuria).
Turning the Tide [Top]
Now in Axis & Allies we are at the Turning the Tide point. This represents the Coral Sea and Midway battles in the Pacific. The German advances to Stalingrad in Europe and to El Alamein in the Western Desert. These were the actual turning points in the war and thus the name.
I will go through the actual theaters and give a relationship to A&A.
The Battle of the Atlantic: [Top]
When we first start the game Germany has a small Baltic-Atlantic Fleet and a medium sized Mediterranean Fleet (Italy's greatest contribution to WWII). The UK and the minor USSR and US contribution are other players here with a combined North Atlantic and Mediterranean Fleet strength of almost twice that of Germany (2 Battleships vs 1; 2 Submarines vs 2; 4 Transport vs 2), but Germany is strong in Air power.
Germany knows that if the UK can build a strong fleet around its Battleships, it will land men anywhere from Karelia to Algeria and may even turn an early Dieppe into a major battle. So Germany can use its Airforces and the remnants of its Baltic-Atlantic Fleet to destroy the UK's major ships and hopefully keep its airforce in strength to thwart future UK fleet buildups.
If the UK builds a fleet strong enough to cost the Germans its airforce if attacked, it will build a new fleet or strengthen its existing fleet and start landing men in Norway, France (Western Europe), and/or Algeria. The USA will take advantage of this protection to land its own units in these locations. With a strong UK Fleet the Germans are helpless. There are no marauding Uboats to sever this lifeline of troops from the USA, UK and Canada. Milton Bradley has a very small Atlantic in which to maneuver Subs and Convoys. So the entire Battle of the Atlantic comes down to Germany keeping the UK without Transport by use of Air Power, which is usually accomplished in the first round, until the UK builds another Fleet and/or Germany loses its Air Power.
The Gamer's Paradise Expansion attempts to resolve this with some additional units: Uboats and Escorts. Some expansions have map changes.
North Africa: [Top]
Here a slight rewrite of history takes place. The exact nature of Vichy France (which owned Algeria & Morocco) was somewhere between a Neutral and an Ally to Germany. Vichy allied itself economically and administratively (the conquered have no say in these matters) but not politically or militarily with Germany and would not declare war on the UK its former ally. However in A&A this is simplified and Algeria is under German control.
This Theatre of Operations [ToO] takes on a very important role in A&A. The forces here are relativeley weak, compared to other places, and sparse. The conquest of Africa by Germany is an investment on the German side which weakens its drive to the Caucasus but may pay off in that Africa is worth 10 IPCs in total (+1 for Madagascar, 9 for the continent). These IPCs are at the UK's expense so taking and holding Africa can reduce the UK income by 30%. If Germany loses North Africa it only loses 2 IPCs but it does give the Allies free use of Africa to base Bombers and even advance through Italy ("the soft underbelly of Europe"). Germany is close to Africa only if its Mediterranean Fleet stays intact and can thus resupply African Forces only slightly easier than the UK or the USA can.
To summarize, Germany must invest some resources into Africa, or have lots of luck, to get this income, this takes time and units away from the Eastern Front, which is Germany's main problem.
Unrealistically Africa is easy to overrun with a few Armour. In the actual war all of the fighting in Africa took place along the coastal area (within 100 km of the Mediterranean coast) and in Ethiopia. I doubt that Rommel could have just driven through the Sahara desert and the Congo jungle to South Africa.
German Advances into the Caucasus: [Top]
The Eastern Front is basically the four territories which separate Berlin (Germany) from Moscow (Russia). These are: Eastern Europe, Karelia SSR, the Ukraine, and the Caucasus. The USSR and Germany have to contend over these territories in order to get at each other's capitols. The USSR can build many Infantry to slow the German assaults. The Germans have a slight advantage with Armour and can batter away at the USSR defenses. Eventually the USSR will have its counter offenses and Germany will have to defend against these. And Germany will again push its own offensives into the USSR. All in all this does mirror the events on the Eastern Front. Germany owns two of these four territories and will usually get the Caucasus or Karelia within a few turns if played right.
Where A&A differs from real life is the fact that UK and USA forces could land in Karelia. These forces can turn the tide against the Germans but getting these forces to Karelia or Eastern Europe takes some time.
Midway, Guadalcanal, New Guinea: [Top]
The war in the Pacific is wide open. In WWII the USA won a major naval battle at Midway and then advances along two avenues, the South Pacific and the Mid Pacific.
In A&A the USA and Japan are almost equal in strength with the Japanese having an advantage of 1 Battleship. A major battle can take place immediatley or can be delayed indefinitely. The 'Pearl Habour' option, so-called because it takes place in Hawaiian waters, can take place on Japan's first turn.
Here is where A&A and actual WWII battles diverges the greatest. The USA can advance to the north and link up its forces with the Russian forces in the Soviet Far East. Japan can invade Hawaii, Midway, or Alaska and then continue to advance into the Continental USA! Japan even has a good chance of taking Australia and New Zealand and even Africa with a small attack fleet.
Though not included here the Sino-Japanese War is a major ToO in Axis & Allies. Japan can make tremendous gains in Asia both against China and the USSR.
Burma: [Top]
Japan and the Allied forces in Asia are on an unequal footing here, the original number of forces here are somewhat balanced but Japan has a supply line directly to Manchuria (bridging) and can easily replace any losses of its mainland forces. The Allies only have the USSR.
In WWII India was a semi-industrialized society with a large population which contributed greatly to the UK war effort in Africa and in Burma.
In A&A the UK must place a Factory to get a similar result and doing this costs time and IPCs and requires that the USA and USSR work in concert to protect this Factory, protection is very important. Similarly China was a source of resources and men. But for the USA to place a factory here is a gamble which may backfire if Japan captures the Factory.
In A&A Burma is part of the whole French Indo-China Burma territory and the whole of South and East Asia is a zone of importance. If Japan can capture China and India quickly it can increase its IPC income from 25 to 32, with some USSR territories can get 40! And thus become a major player. The only real force to stop Japan is the USSR (unless the Allies build factories) and the USSR must divert resources away from the European Front.
A New Front and New Battles: [Top]
Axis & Allies opens up a whole new set of ToOs and campaigns.
This is the Russo-Japanese War in Manchuria and elsewhere in Asia. There
can be many more battles in A&A as this is a new story of World
War II everytime it is played. We could have the Battle for Brazil,
the invasion of South Africa, and the Battle of the Madagascar Straits.
A very good attempt at showing the political repercussions and geopolitical
setup circa 1940 is shown in Xeno's 'World at War' and in TMI's 'World
at War PBEM Game'. My '1942 Large Map' will also allow for more varied
and hopefully realistic theaters to be opened.
To the Next Chapter: Simplification of WWII in Axis & Allies
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