"Axis Empires: Totaler Krieg" (with DoD/SK) - Report by Darren Kilfara

LAST UPDATED: 13 May 2017

CURRENT TURN: Mar-Apr 1942

This is an AAR of an Axis Empires: Totaler Krieg playtest game using the latest TK rules (March 2016) as well as the current rules for the Schiffskrieg  (June 2016) and Dice of Decision  (June 2016) modules from the forthcoming AE  Expansion Kit. The players are as follows:

Allies: Alex Aminoff

Axis: Darren Kilfara

The situation at the start of the game, following the DoD  random scenario generation and the players' opening setups, can be seen at right. Croatia and Serbia started the game as separate countries, Cyprus is Greek, Hatay is Syrian, the Caucasus is independent and stretches almost as far north as Rostov, East Prussia is part of an expanded Poland (which starts the game with an extra HQ and armor unit in its force pool), and Sweden had a Coup d'Etat in the early 1930s and began the game as a Western ally. Also, Italy begins the game with pro-Axis Influence and France starts as "Unprepared" (slowing the entry of the units which normally arrive via the Paris Threatened  Conditional Event), both of which could have interesting ramifications as the game continues...

Turn 11: Apr-May 1938 - Austria finally behaves and kowtows to German diplomatic pressure. (Situation at the end of Spring 1938 is shown in the image at left.)

Turn 12: May-Jun 1938 - Axis card is 17. Diplomatic Mission: Balkans, leading pro-Axis Influence to be placed in Bulgaria. Western card is 12. Little Entente, and Soviet card is 10a. Eastern Bloc, but the Allied diplomats fail to register any successes. 

Turn 13: Jun-Jul 1938 - Diplomatic failures all round.

Turn 14: Jul-Aug 1938 - Diplomatic failures all round (again!) - positively Trumpian diplomacy across Europe at present.

Turn 15: Aug-Sep 1938 - Axis card is 11. Demand Denmark: Denmark quickly becomes a German Dependent, giving the Axis a front on which to conduct its forthcoming war with Sweden. (That also puts pro-Western Influence on the map in Norway.) Western card is 6a. Maginot Line Completed, with the British getting an SBP that is used to begin work on CV Formidable. Soviet card is again 13. Pre-War Production; the Red Navy gets another SBP, which results in BCs Kronstadt and Sevastopol getting started.

Turn 16: Sep-Oct 1938 - Nothing of note happens.

Turn 17: Nov-Dec 1938 - Axis card is 3. Continuing Rearmament; Demand Polish Corridor  is discarded along with Production Directive: Helicopters, but Germany can still start war with Poland via Demand East Prussia  if desired. And yet another SBP for Germany lets it start work on CV Graf Zeppelin - the German and Soviet fleets will both be abnormally large this game! Western card is 7a. Western Guarantees, a season earlier than normal, and the West gets its Conditional Military Aid  step; will this gum up the Axis works at all? CVs Implacable and Indomitable are now under construction as well. Soviet card is 2. Russian Rearmament, as expected. All of the German units arriving in the Delay Box this turn will be ready for the start of the Summer, should war break out.

Turn 18: Jan-Feb 1939 - German forces deploy to the Czech border...is general war about to begin? (Situation at the end of the Winter shown in the image at right.)

Turn 19: Mar-Apr 1939 - Axis card is indeed 12. Demand Czechoslovakia: war has a 50-50 chance of breaking out, but by a single pip of the die, the Czechs back down and peacefully assimilate into the Reich. Western card is 4. French Mobilization; Soviet card is again 13. Pre-War Production.

Turn 20: Apr-May 1939 - Forces are repositioned on all fronts as we wait to see what kicks off in the Summer.

Turn 21: May-Jun 1939 - Axis card is 4a. Nazi-Soviet Pact: calm before the storm, perhaps? Western card is the long-delayed 8. Negotiations with Belgium, but the first attempt at placing a potentially vital pro-Western Influence marker in Brussels fails. Soviet card is 3. Continuing Rearmament as the Red Army continues to blossom.

Turn 22: Jun-Jul 1939 - Western diplomats finally manage to stiffen the resolve of Belgium and Holland: pro-Western Influence does appear in Brussels.

Turn 23: Jul-Aug 1939 - Nothing of note apart from a tiny bit of reshuffling and more growth for the Wehrmacht.

Turn 24: Aug-Sep 1939 - Axis card is 13. Demand Gau Moselland: German attempts to invade Belgium are thwarted by Britain's summertime diplomatic initiatives, although yet another German SBP leads to a start on a second CV (Peter Strasser). Western card is again 9. Chamberlain Diplomacy, but Sir Neville again fails to move the needle. Soviet card is 8a. Demand Baltic States as the Red Menace stretches further westwards.

Turn 25: Sep-Oct 1939 - Another Western Political failure. What else is new?

Turn 26: Nov-Dec 1939 - Axis card is 5. German Mobilization; Ural Bombers  is discarded. Yet another German SBP means BB Bismarck is now underway, while due to poor planning, Germany almost didn't have enough space in its cities to accommodate its eight Seasonal Replacement steps! Western card is 11. Balkan League, and for once the Allies have a notable diplomatic success, gaining pro-Western Influence in Rumania. Soviet card is again 13. Pre-War Production. German Delays are again generally good, with only one 663 army not arriving in time for the start of the Summer.

Turn 27: Jan-Feb 1940 - German forces mass in Denmark and on the borders of Holland, Belgium and France. War certainly looks imminent...

Turn 28: Mar-Apr 1940 - Axis card is 6a. Additional Mobilization, which triggers the start of Limited War (and the end of SBPs for Germany, France and Russia). Appeasement ends with the placing of a German Air unit over Malmo, while the absence of a Swedish step in a Baltic port lets the Kriegsmarine form a Beachhead adjacent to Stockholm, which falls rapidly. Malmo also falls on a Dr3, 0/0 result at 6:1, which lets German forces penetrate to within two hexes of the final Swedish city (Gothenburg) during Reserve Movement. Western card is 5a. British Mobilization; the French begin to guard their border with Italy, while the remaining five Swedish steps all congregate in Gothenburg. (Swedish front at end of Mar-Apr 1940 shown at right.)  Soviet card is 5c. Stalin Line Expanded.

Turn 29: Apr-May 1940 - Eight German steps, including the German Airborne unit, mass in southern Austria as plans seem afoot to attack France across the Italian Alps. Germany leaves only seven infantry steps in Sweden (and no steps in Denmark) as the Western Front appears to take priority ahead of the Summer. As for the Allies, France is short of steps relative to normal, so Britain and France concede German penetration into Calais and probably Lille during the first Summer turn in the hopes of minimizing the damage and making Case Yellow as hard to effect as possible.

Turn 31: Jun-Jul 1940 - A German sub starts the turn by spotting and sinking CV Courageous; with the rest of Britain's carriers in Alexandria, contemplating an air raid on the Italian fleet at Taranto, this means the British CV Fleet is unavailable for the defense against Sealion. (Another sub spots and sinks French CA Colbert.) Now possessing a temporary two-unit Support advantage, Darren decides to invade England after all. Two initial Air units are contested by the British and French Defense Fleets; a British BB and CA are damaged and several French ships are sunk, but the Royal Navy suffers no permanent losses. A third German Air unit goes uncontested, so a three-step Beachhead pointing at Ipswich is formed, and a fourth Air unit flies over London. A 3:1 Blitz attack only kills the Swedish step on a Dr1, 0/0 result, so London remains in British hands for now, while elsewhere Paris is surrounded and Lyon and Marseilles fall to Italo-German forces, and a 2:1 attack against Gothenburg rolls another '6'. In the Western turn, an attempt to interdict the North Sea results in a massive defeat for the Kriegsmarine: Gneisenau, Lutzow and Scheer are all sunk and four other ships disabled at the cost of only BB Royal Sovereign. On land, French counterattacks kill two German steps and push them out of Orelans; Paris looks likely to remain safe, but Nantes will fall to trigger Case Yellow, while the British steps in London withdraw, leaving the city open for a German Airdrop. (End of turn situation shown at right.)

Turn 35: Nov-Dec 1940 - Axis card is 28a. Treaty: Poland joins the Axis at the first attempt, with a Mobilization roll of '5' to boot. The Qattara defenders are pushed back on a Dr1, 0/0 result at 2:1, while Southampton's defending corps is crushed at 9:1 odds. (Situation in England at the end of Axis Nov-Dec 1940 turn shown at left.)  Western card is 23. Commonwealth Support; the last remaining Western unit in Britain bugs out to Belfast and is joined there by two other steps. Curiously, the El Alamein position is also abandoned, as Alex takes no chances and prepares to sacrifice Egypt to save steps. Soviet card is 18. Demand Finnish Frontier - the lone remaining Soviet Demand  card, thanks to the Stalin Line path Alex has taken - and Finland capitulates without a fight.

Turn 36: Jan-Feb 1941 - An Axis Treaty attempt on Hungary fails despite the +1 drm; even a Neutrals Pressured result would have been useful in allowing Darren to remove the Western Influence from Rumania, but the roll was a '1'. German land-based air (LBA) units in Italy launch a Base Attack on Malta and damage CV Ark Royal. The British garrison at Port Said is overrun, leading Alex to abandon Cairo and stack his final three Egyptian steps in Suez. Meanwhile, the British port-a-fort is now in Belfast; although Germany has now overrun all of Britain (with only the Scapa Flow Detachment holding out), a penetration into Ireland seems unlikely. As for the Soviets, they continue to get stronger and stronger despite possessing only one HQ unit.

Turn 37: Mar-Apr 1941 - Axis card is 29a. Treaty, and a successful roll for Rumania removes the Western Influence marker there. German Air flies over Suez, which would seem to suggest a Long Limited War campaign; each side loses an LBA in the SK  battle before a second German Air unit is successfully placed, and CA Kent is sunk in the Incidental Base Attack on Suez. A 4:1 attack on Suez yields a Dr2, 0/0 result, leaving a single British step there, while Darren is careful in Poland to guard against the outside possibility of Russia challenging Germany. Western card is 22. Western Military Aid, which succeeds in generating a Military Aid result as a British buildup in Kuwait accelerates. Most interestingly, the Soviet card is indeed 17a. Russia Challenges Germany, which Alex calls a desperate gamble to relieve pressure on Britain - and the first Soviet challenge succeeds. Soviet forces successfully rout the Axis forces in Ternopol, but a 4:1 toward Bialystok only generates an Ex, 0/0 on a roll of '6'. Germany's Air unit rolls a '1' in Delay, which should help in the East. (Situation at the end of Mar-Apr 1941 shown at right; note that Darren has to be careful not to leave any German armies or HQs in Poland at the end of a turn lest it be Occupied and all of the Polish forces disappear.)

Turn 38: Apr-May 1941 - Rumania is successfully Treatied and gets a Mobilization roll of '6' as well. Germany builds one army in Poland and moves it into the empty hex in southern Lithuania, which triggers Russian Emergency Mobilization (a mistake by Darren). Suez is mopped up with no further Axis losses as German and Italian steps surge through Palestine and into Trans-Jordan. Another attempted British Base Attack on Taranto results in a Raiders Discovered result, and the British CV Fleet goes into Delay, but German LBA is unable to hurt the raiding British task force. The second Soviet Challenge results in an Axis Political Option that Darren uses to inflict a Supply Failure on Russia and send the Russian Interceptor to Delay - but it rolls a '1', while the Soviet Air unit rolls a '2' - while Alex does well to disengage his front-line forces in the Baltic States without loss, straightening his lines instead from Riga to Minsk.

Turn 44: Nov-Dec 1941 - Axis card is 31. Mobilization Limits, and a Command Failure instantly paralyzes the Wehrmacht's mobility in the East. So Darren turns West and tries three times to interdict the North Atlantic: once with a Sub Fleet, once with the Kriegsmarine, and once with an Air unit. Alex contests with a British Interceptor, the second with his own Surface Fleet - which results in roughly equal losses on both sides (see left) , after he Germans are very lucky to get a Night Action against the odds and can withdraw after a single combat round - and the third with an Air unit that manages to shoot down a German LBA. Then Darren changes tack and places another Air unit adjacent to Malta: this goes uncontested by the final British Surface Fleet, and an Italian army moves onto the resultant Beachhead to get a toehold ashore on the island while another Air unit flies over Malta to prevent reinforcements from arriving. Elsewhere, the Axis HQ in Iraq breaks down, and two small attacks in Russia succeed in capturing Murmansk and killing two Soviet steps at the cost of one Polish step.

Western card is 21. Arcadia Conference, and a Pacific Commitment sends the British CV Fleet to fight Japan, with the British CA Surrey and two old America BBs (Texas and Arkansas) being sunk and unable to return to Europe. An Allies Support Resistance  Political roll puts a Partisan Base in the Western Force Pool; Alex also rebuilds British 1st Army in Belfast.  Soviet card is again 43. Production Directorate: Red Air Force, as he puts off the necessary medicine of Red Army Reforms for another season. A small Soviet counter-attack near Smolensk exchanges a Soviet Shock corps for a German infantry step.

Delay rolls aren't great for anyone: Germany gets mostly 4s and 5s (apart from the Sub Fleet returning immediately), the Soviet Air unit rolls a 5, and the British Fleet in Naval Warfare Delay rolls a 6+4 and won't be back until 1943. Ouch.