Courage Wolf Takes On the World: An Italy AAR

10 June 1940: War Against the Allies; Tour of Europe

On 10 June Italy declared war on the Allies.

Exactly three months later, France fell to a three-way invasion (mostly from Spain).




Caption: Courage Wolf/Europe tour

3 January 1941: Poland



8 March 1941: Hungary, Switzerland



27 July 1941: Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey


Caption (Leonidas): This.../Is...


Caption: ...no.



7 January 1942: Romania, Persia



1 May 1942: Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia



24 December 1942: England



Carriers!



11 March 1943: Ireland

11 August 1943: War Against the Soviet Union

11 August 1943: Stalin's Office

Minister of Foreign Affairs Maksim Litvinov: Stalin! We have urgent news from Italy!

Stalin: Have they accepted our 134th proposal to join the Comintern?

Litvinov: No. In fact, they have declared war on us.

Stalin: What!

Disposition of Forces

Roughly speaking, there are four fronts in this war.


The north front. My militia are spread fairly thin here.


The south front. Again, a thin spread of militia.


The Caucasus. Due to the terrain, this front will be harder to attack from, but also easier to defend.


(Missing image.)
Central Asia. Probably my strongest front--I have tanks here fresh from conquering India and Siam.

Industry and Military



My rate of production is greater than that of the Soviet Union. However, this a relatively recent development--the Soviet Union has had years to build up its military, and has had greater industrial capacity than mine for most of them.


I've started experimenting with tanks. In retrospect I should have used Armor instead of Light Armor. Oh well.


I have a decent number of interceptors, but little else.

Technology and Leadership

My real advantage is in technology. I have over 80(!) leadership--this allows me to research nearly every tech I am interested in continuously. As a result I am far ahead of historical year.


Education and Computing Machine techs are my most advanced techs--having always researched them continuously, they are now approaching late 1950s levels in 1943! Also note the huge levels of some of my knowledge levels.


My land techs are also quite advanced. Thanks to techs, my tanks are quite speedy.


After years of war, I finally have some decent leaders.

26 February 1944: After the First Winter


The most desperate front is the north. One division has been trapped at the port province of Tallinn, but strangely the Soviet Union is not making any attack on them. For a while the main line here was in danger of collapse, but the timely arrival of fresh Light and Heavy Armor divisions have stabilized the line.


The south is not so great either. My Militia are holding on, but only just.


The Caucasus is roughly even. To shorten my line I allowed the Soviets to advance in some parts and pushed them back in others.


The good news is the Central Asian front. I've made great gains on the banks of the Caspian.


In world news, Japan is actually winning against China for once.

14 July 1944: Turning the Tide


With the addition of even more armored divisions, I've started pocketing Soviet forces in the north and reversing their gains.


A bit less so in the south. I've raced a few Light Armor divisions forward to take Sevestapol.


Gains continue around the Caspian despite increased resistance. I've shortened the line in the far east in order to concentrate on the Caspian area.

10 October 1944: The End?


(Image lost.)

After a few months of repeated encirclements, the Soviet army has been exhausted. Resistance has been all but eliminated in the north, and Italian light armored divisions from Central Asia have cut a path hundreds of kilometers wide through the Soviet Union, cutting off the entire south and Caucasus fronts. Elements of this push have reached the outskirts of Moscow. It appears that the ultimate defeat of the Soviet Union is imminent.

Or is it?

A Secret Underground Base Midway Between Moscow and Berlin

Stalin: So it has come to this. The Italian menace has destroyed both our countries. What hope have we now?

Hitler: We shall have our revenge! My remaining scientists have created a vengeance weapon that will reverse the course of this war! Bring in the Vergeltungswaffen.

(Several scientists wheel in a large contraption, labeled "V-1.3".)

Hitler: This device shall alter the space-time continuum to negate the wrongs that have been inflicted on us!

(Hitler presses the big red button on the machine. A rift in the space-time continuum opens overhead and begins to swallow everything. Within it, a pair of figures appear. One holds a microphone, the other a trophy of some sort.)


Caption (Kanye): Yo Italy I'm really happy for you and Imma let you finish/But 1.3 is going to be one of the greatest patches of all time