Five for Fighting - How Hockey Saved the Allies - An FtM AAR

[InnocentIII]

Its nice that they will sell you planes, but do you have any doctrines that will help? else you will be fighting at -30% relative to the Germans. (30% is a guess).

True, I have zero doctrines, and eve against Italy I will have trouble. But, I have excess IC compared to manpower, so if I can just fight them off, a little, it should help. OTOH, maybe I was right initially thinking that Canada can have a navy, or an air force, but not both.

As a now-fellow Commonwealth AAR writer, I approve of this!

Great AAR, you've done a good job against the Axis with Canada's limited manpower. The invasion of Persia seems to be going well, I just hope you get the prize in Tehran before the Brits get there.

Thanks! The Persian campaign is proving to be much tougher than expected.

Thus the race continues with Russia now having entered the running and already grabbed a prize. Hopefully Canada can win something from this noble attack, especially after her armoured cars heroic fighting earlier!

They're undefeated against civilians!

Update tomorrow.

[eqqman]

True, I have zero doctrines, and eve against Italy I will have trouble. But, I have excess IC compared to manpower, so if I can just fight them off, a little, it should help. OTOH, maybe I was right initially thinking that Canada can have a navy, or an air force, but not both.

Since aircraft is far more upgradeable than ships, you may be better off starting with planes (too late now, of course...)

Update tomorrow.

Can't wait!

[croguy]

Is there any chance for you to upgrade the port before Russians set up shop in Tehran? A constant flow of supplies to your troops should be enough to increase the chance of encircling the city before the USSR or UK get to it.

[eqqman]

Is there any chance for you to upgrade the port before Russians set up shop in Tehran? A constant flow of supplies to your troops should be enough to increase the chance of encircling the city before the USSR or UK get to it.

I would doubt that is possible since it takes several months to increase the level of a Naval Base, especially if Canada's construction practicals are low.

[InnocentIII]

The Germans have launched Barbarossa, the Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor, but the real news right now is the race to Tehran, a completely unnecessary diversion which might well net Canada an inadequate port and some inhospitable terrain. So let's take the capitol and make this war worthwhile, shall we? If we don't make this interesting soon, everyone's gonna be singing the colonoscopy song!

On November 29, 1941, we took Semnan, giving us the option finally to attack Tehran.



Here's my problem. I have enough fuel, since only the Armored Cars use it, and they would probably fight more often if they ran out [Note - I also wrote this update before I realized that Armored Cars were support units, like Artillery, and cannot go into combat alone][Though they'd done a damned fine job before they got to Persia!]. I do not have enough supplies except in newly-conquered Semnan, and I'm not likely to get enough supplies anytime soon. So the fairly weak Persian army represents a huge obstacle to me right now, as I cannot supply my troops.



Now, I think I was still right grabbing a port, since if I recall correctly, armies supplied from an ally's territory conquer on behalf of that ally (or was that HoI2?). So if I'd landed in UK territory, and advanced into Persia from there, I'd have conquered for Britain. I forget. I did take that first province on the coast and got ownership of that, but the men were supplied from Sicily, so switching supply to, Iraq might have given the next province to the Brits. Hmmm. It doesn't matter that much, but it is why I did things the way I did them for what that's worth.

On the 30th we place our newly-minted Anti-Aircraft batteries, and we'll ship them off to Messina very soon. Here's the situation near Tehran.



As you can see, the capitol is temporarily vacated. I cannot pin the troops south of Tehran, because an attack doesn't prevent a unit from moving between friendly provinces. And anyway, the unit I'd use has been totally out of supply for some time and has zero Org. I have Infantry moving to join my Armored Cars in Semnan, and I hope to make a charge to Tehran from there. However, the Semnan forces are retreating into Tehran. Hopefully I'll be able to beat up the defenders and take the city. Right now, my Armored Cars are doing what they do best: resting.

We're at negative 17.8 Manpower, so this battle is taking a resource we're already short on.

Then it occurs to me, there's a window of opportunity here.



I'm unlikely to win a race into Tehran, but one on one I might beat the defenders, and the two retreating units lost for a reason. Here's hoping.



Turns out the HQ unit in Tehran stopped moving to fight me, but not enough to join the combat. They must have Armored Cars.

Then the Persian infantry arrive, but no worries, our fabulous Armored Cars are in the battle!



Or not...

Maybe they saw the Shah and couldn't stand the thought of fighting him? Nationalist China joins the allies, my ships get bombed in the Straits of Messina, and my Armored Cars cannot find a battlefield with both hands, a flashlight and a map showing the location of their own behinds [Ed - or the rules of HoI3].



So a golden opportunity melts away. The Persians add defenders and my Armored Cars add detractors [Ed - to this AAR? or just your ability?].



I let this combat go, hoping against hope that my AC would join in and prove decisive. They did not [Ed - idiot].

Right now it is not supply which is holding me up, I've captured enough so that nearly all frontline troops look like they are in good shape.



My additional infantry move toward Tehran, and the southern division runs into a defending Persian unit at the port of Bandar e'Abbas.

The Italians then send two flotillas of destroyers to the Straits of Messina, where I have two badly beaten up flotillas of my own. I add two more flotillas which were in worse shape and therefore in port. I win, but take more damage.



Oh, look, there's the British Fleet, with a Capital Ship and everything. Thanks for the help, guys! The British fleet is made up of Armored Cars today.

On the right side is my entire local fleet, which I combined post-combat to pick the least damaged to take up Messina duty.

Here's the trouble around Tehran - a simplified terrain map shows it's all hills, mountains and desert.



The battle to take the port with one division against one division went badly, so I loaded up my two Marine Divisions on the 11th of December to ship them to that part of Persia. I need a bigger port and I'm pretty sure Bandar e'Abbas is just what I want.

Later on the 11th I notice that my supplies in Semnan are completely gone, and most of my front-line troops are likewise out of supply. I need a new port yesterday. The Persians saw this, too, and attacked my Armored Cars, who of course were "in reserve", and lost [Ed - anyone still suprised by this: thank you]! Then I lost the Bandar e'Abbas battle, losing 360 men and inflicting only 77 casualties. The Armored Cars retreat into Soviet territory. I bet Stalin could get these guys to fight[Ed - but he uses different rules], line up some machine guns behind them and shoot anyone who flees [Ed - or modify the game and give them width].

My Marines get bombed on the way to Abu Dhabi, of course. Here's the Vichy situation in Syria/Lebanon.



So, the US declaration of war nets Britain some more colonies.

Around Tehran, I'm trying to add a third attack point for my push on the capitol. Of course, I need my Armore Cars back, someday.



Both the 14th and 15th of December each see another German bombing of my ships in the Straits of Messina. I hope the mountain divisions are ready for another attack, because they navy isn't going to hold any longer. The men should be fully refreshed, but not fully reinforced. They'd better be ready (the AA has arrived), because I'm pulling out the blocking naval forces.

Incoming!



Good start for it, all armor attacking [Ed - they have width!]. A solo artillery brigade and the non-mountain division are both retreating to reduce or eliminate my stacking penalty. I'm only at negative 14.4 Manpower now, for what that's worth.

Meanwhile, the Persians in the southern port of Bandar e'Abbas sally forth against the Canadian division which had attacked them, just as my marines arrive in the area. Thank you, Persia. I send my Armored Cars back to Semnan from USSR territory after they get some supplies. They're still full Org.

The Marines make a landing.



While I hoped to brush aside the HQ unit without much trouble, it did not occur to me until afterward to attack with only one division, and save the attack ability of the other to try to take the port immediately. Nothing bad can come from that, right?

[next update most likely Thursday, but for the first time, it's not already written; played, but not written]

[eqqman]

While I hoped to brush aside the HQ unit without much trouble, it did not occur to me until afterward to attack with only one division, and save the attack ability of the other to try to take the port immediately. Nothing bad can come from that, right?

You don't even need to do that, as I only recently discovered. Say you have men sitting outside an enemy port but you don't want to attack the port directly since you think you'd lose. Unload next to an empty province near the port and attack. When you win, force your troops to move back into the ships. Then, force your men to move into the port with the control-click interface. They will do so and claim the province for you without having to wait for their attack delay to complete. Basically the same result as if you had just had them attack the port directly from the get-go. I found this dramatically decreases the time it takes to capture places like South America- nearly every VP you need is on the coast, and you don't have to wait for your men to march through the jungle/hill/mountains to capture them.

I also wouldn't be so hard on the innocent Canadian Armoured Car drivers (unless they're all Newfies). They excel in the role of zipping through empty lands so your front-line troops don't have to bother securing rear areas, and if you pair them up with a Light Armour brigade they can do that, plus stand and fight with Combined Arms bonus if they get caught by somebody.

[morningSIDEr]

In this continued race to nab valuable territory from Persia the AC continue to excell at, uhm, racing around anyway. The less said about their 'battles' the better! Thus the crossing into Italy has been re-opened and you have marines desperately attempting to take a port; as you say, nothing bad can happen! Well, probably.

[sprites]

Maybe ou should have started to take those ports , to help with the supply problems ...

[Saithis]

Uh oh. Here's hoping they land with enough supplies to actually go somewhere before they run out.

[InnocentIII]

You don't even need to do that, as I only recently discovered. Say you have men sitting outside an enemy port but you don't want to attack the port directly since you think you'd lose. Unload next to an empty province near the port and attack. When you win, force your troops to move back into the ships. Then, force your men to move into the port with the control-click interface. They will do so and claim the province for you without having to wait for their attack delay to complete. Basically the same result as if you had just had them attack the port directly from the get-go. I found this dramatically decreases the time it takes to capture places like South America- nearly every VP you need is on the coast, and you don't have to wait for your men to march through the jungle/hill/mountains to capture them.

I also wouldn't be so hard on the innocent Canadian Armoured Car drivers (unless they're all Newfies). They excel in the role of zipping through empty lands so your front-line troops don't have to bother securing rear areas, and if you pair them up with a Light Armour brigade they can do that, plus stand and fight with Combined Arms bonus if they get caught by somebody.

I totally agree on the armored cars, they took a lot before I realized they could only conquer civilians. You're also right on naval attacks, but they relevant provinces were occupado.

In this continued race to nab valuable territory from Persia the AC continue to excell at, uhm, racing around anyway. The less said about their 'battles' the better! Thus the crossing into Italy has been re-opened and you have marines desperately attempting to take a port; as you say, nothing bad can happen! Well, probably.

Turns out "okay" in the end, but it'd be nice if i did something right the first time.

Maybe you should have started to take those ports , to help with the supply problems ...

I thought of going directly at the port, but if I lose I'm sitting for a week. If you mean the bigger port, you're right, I wish I'd had better intel on port sizes.

Uh oh. Here's hoping they land with enough supplies to actually go somewhere before they run out.

Divisions usually have 30 days on hand, and the Brits have been in charge where I landed for ages, but yeah, I don't need more out-of-supply units.

Next Update - should be Monday but the chapter is only partially played and not written. I'll try to get a little further ahead this weekend so I can be sure of keeping my preferred schedule of Monday/Thursday. Plus, very much looking forward to CK2 on the 14th (yes, it was a bit much to take that day off of work, what's your point?).

[InnocentIII]

When last we saw them, the brave Canadians were trying to conquer Persia from a single level one port. They were trying to beat the advances of both the UK and Soviet Union. So a marine landing was made in the south of Persia to grab a larger port. Fortunately, the defenders of that port were feeling a bit over-optimistic, and launched a pointless assault on the Canadians who had tried to dislodge them.



As you can see from the respective Org levels, the Persians were not overly optimistic about this battle, but they're spending resources they will need soon. Unfortunately, trying to avoid undue optimism myself, I had gone ashore with both marine divisions in the attack. My reserve chance of joining an attack is quite low, anyone not in at the beginning is unlikely to join later. So we'll have a mini-stizkrieg while my men recover their ability to attack.

Meanwhile, around Tehran, I still hadn't realized that my armored cars had zero width and could so not engage in combat as a separate division <sigh> They remind me of the babe (Ed - what babe?) the babe with the power (Ed - what power?) the power of voodoo (Ed - whodo?) you do (Ed - do what?) remind me of the babe!



Canada took Oom, and, hoping for the best, made a rush toward Tehran. NOTE - what Kenneth Stuart didn't tell me was why anyone would care.



My thoughts on this were these. One, I have no supply, at the moment, so anyone who can get near the enemy with the capacity to attack might as well do so. Sitting still burns as much ORG as attacking, sort of, so use it or lose it.

Also, I have more troops coming, and even if I just wear the Persians down, I do some good. Now, had I been in a better supply situation, clearly the best bet is to beef everyone up and attack at the best possible moment. That might have been a better call here as well. But with divisions in the red and supply hard to come by, I sent the men in.''

Well, it was a thought.



Turns out I did not accomplish too much. Still, I have more units to send, and beating up on one of the very few potent defenders counts for something.

In the meantime, the battle which rages in Messina goes on because I do not have the navy to hold the straits.



Without the million-man army I faced earlier, the Axis do not have the stacking penalty they had then, and so I'm actually in more danger. Well, they are more effective, I suspect that my danger level is low anyway. As you can see, my ORG is not really moving, so far.

HMCS Ontario is completed, my first Light Cruiser, as is Destroyer Flotilla 7. They have zero ORG, but maximum strength, and so they are a welcome addition to the Canadian fleet. Soon they will man the Straits of Messina as their sons and grandsons did before them.

My air force, two wings of Close Air Support Hurricanes, are sent to bomb Calabria. I kill 37 men, but they lose 25% STR each to the Italian CAP. My marines, who landed in Minab, have 38 days of supply to tide them over until they can attack the port we're intent on taking at Bandar e Abbas. My armored cars arrive in Semnan, only to be immediately chased off by the Persians for having zero width.

I take another shot at Tehran when the results come in from Messina.



I call that a win for the good guys, and I am wearing down the defenders in Tehran. In retrospect, it is clear to me that I ought to have massed my forces for an attack on Tehran, though at this point I was still thinking the armored cars would come in handy. We lost 500 men in Tehran and killed 70.

Our attack on Bandar e'Abbas was an almost insta-win. Both sides lost 40 men, but we have ourselves another port.



On the 24th of December we re-think our opinion that the Brits had a better fighter, and order up one squadrom of Grumman F4F Wildcats from the USA very cheaply, $35. We're still underwater in Manpower, by 19.7, but there was a one on the screen burning a hole in my pocket.

There were three more bombing runs on the Straits of Messina, where our shiny new ships had taken up residence. They're getting a rude welcome. However, Canada took Bandar e'Abbas on December 29, 1941. Then, well, I took yet another run at Tehran.



<sigh> We killed 175 but took Satan's own losses, 666. As the year ends, we're down 25.3 Manpower. BTW - I could not see for the longest time where my manpower would go if I got 25.3 in an event. Then I recalled that my naval units were beaten up pretty badly. So all those damned bombing runs in the Straits cost me MP as well as naval STR, I think.

Japan decides Kamikaze. Heh, join the club. I wonder if Japan will launch one weak attack after another on Tehran?

Here's a look at Europe etc in the Diplomatic map as 1941 comes to an end.



Here's the Middle East.



As long as we're taking a look at the overview, here's another look at an exploded Top Bar.



Yes, those are Soviet troops taking the long way round, and presumably using up my precious supply at the Persian Front.

Right about now our reinfocement need in Production was 10.5, but after one overnight it was cut in half and then in half again. It's only a few days at a time that much production goes there. My ships in the Straits are bombed a couple more times, and I send the Light Cruiser off for repairs at around 60% STR. Then the four damaged destroyer flotillas get bombed a couple more times. It's right back to floating wounded doing what they can. Granted, it's no longer that important, given the last land battle, but the Italians can stand to pummel me by land far longer than I can stand to be pummeled. Plus, even if I won every fight, I'm bleeding men I don't have. I want to bleed men I do have, preferably fighting over somewhere I don't already own.

Here is the Supply Situation near Tehran. Even with Bandar e'Abbas, we have not (yet) got the ability to supply our troops. Thanks Russia!



Yeah, yeah, we were unable to supply them before, but if there's commies nearby to blame, I blame them.

Our fleeing Canadian troops, driven back by the defenders of Bandar e'Abbas, arrive in and capture that coastal province. We made another stab at Tehran with disorganized troops, and were chased away by derisive laughter alone. To add to the misery, we start losing Convoys again, four in the course of a couple days, Gibraltar and further east on the Halifax-Bandar e'Abbas route.

We did make three advances in this general time period, however. Leadership hit Level 3, +15%; Light Artillery hit Level 5, +3.00% Toughness to all my Infantry type units; and Industrial Production hit Level 6, +15% IC. So those were nice.

The Terhan defenders atatcked several Canadian units in Kashan in a very short attack which killed 450 enemy for a loss of fifty Canadians. If they do that ten more times I might be able to defeat them. Not only is that unlikely, my piecemeal attacks have left me unable to do much as the Rooskies have Tehran surrounded, more or less.



I bet they have no supply problems to speak of. I should send my Armored Cars back there.

I had to abandon the Straits of Messina again, but the Italian attack on Messina itself was inconsequential. I lost fifty men and killed 700. The water hardly matters anymore, well, except for the huge hit the Axis take attacking across it. I might as well rest my navy a bit.

My first clue that I'd lost the race for Tehran was when I saw the new, out-of-place capitol. But then I took it a few days later.



Canada conquered Persia!

I win!

[Saithis]

A shame about Tehran, Soviet Supply was always going to be better than yours though. At least you've got some shiny new land for your troubles! What are your plans in terms of occupying the territory?

[sprites]

And now the caspian is known as he inner soviet sea!

[eqqman]

At least your holdings are contiguous... did you manage to get any of the good parts of Persia?

[morningSIDEr]

I rather like the fact that less man attacking accross the straits of Messina actually makes it more dangerous for the Canadians! Good that you nabbed quite a large chunk of Persia, bad that it seems to be mainly worthless land.

[InnocentIII]

A shame about Tehran, Soviet Supply was always going to be better than yours though. At least you've got some shiny new land for your troubles! What are your plans in terms of occupying the territory?

I hope to strip my defenses as bare as can be. In Persia, the only threat is rebels, seems to me.

And now the caspian is known as he inner soviet sea!

Yeah, I wonder if the Dachas will be as posh as they are on the Black Sea?

At least your holdings are contiguous... did you manage to get any of the good parts of Persia?

If by good you mean VPs, yes! Plus, ports! That's kind of a no.

I rather like the fact that less man attacking across the straits of Messina actually makes it more dangerous for the Canadians! Good that you nabbed quite a large chunk of Persia, bad that it seems to be mainly worthless land.

Yeah, the stacking penalty really did a good deal more than I expected from my limited experience. Not sure the Italians have enough left behind to take Messina, though.

Tomorrow's update is written. The next couple might be heavy on recovering and lighter on, you know, actual warfare, but I do have some limited short-term offensive plans...

[InnocentIII]

Last we saw them, the Canadian Conquerors were celebrating their amazing conquest of Persia.



Granted, even this Victory Points map shows that the Russians grabbed the big prize (all are one VP except Tehran at 2), but Canada did contribute to the Allied total. None of those VPs would be ours without the Canadian DoW.

The hard part will be sneaking all our troops past the newly alerted Axis. You know that when Canada conquers a country, all of the enemy will be ever vigilant to avoid becoming the next victim of the Steamroller of the North.

All our troops will be withdrawn except for the guys with an Anti-Tank brigade attachment. Not so much because it's needed in Persia, but because the unit is in decent shape, and I kind of regret building AT when I could have had AA for the same price. Later I change my mind and move the AT toward the newly captured large port where my men will debark for their next victim. or at least R&R before their next victim is chosen.

Hey, let's take a look at the Eastern Front:



To be honest, I have no idea how good that is for the Germans, but it does not look as though Barbarossa suffered fatally from operation Annoy Canada. Presumably Barabarossa was always going to advance in the early going, I guess the proof will come in how quickly the Russians turn the tide. Here's a look at what the Finns are doing.



Well, I could have positioned that shot better Sorry. But again, there is movement toward the Russian target, at least for now...

But before our battle weary troops can be brought home, we load up some fresh men on Sicily for an offensive operation. Because our navy is a bit raggedy, we select all that we can for the operation.



Turns out, nobody's home! Another win for the good guys!



Then we decided to unload the rest of the men. That was a mistake.



Turns out there was something to the historical Italian WW2 theory of a "fleet in being", traditionally translated into English as "run away!" In the real war, the Italian fleet was enough to frighten off the Canadians. Here, however, the Royal Canadian Navy ventures much. On the other hand, the entire battle was spent clicking elsewhere every hour several times with the clock slowed to minimum.



As you can see, it's not exactly rapid progress in taking down STR, and the Italians are not aiming for the most wounded. By 7AM I'd gotten away without ships sunk by racing into the port I captured during the battle. We waited a bit, and raced the ships and some of the troops back to Siracusa. During this battle, Infantry Support Weapons hit level 5, increasing our ground troops' defensiveness +4.00% (for all five levels).

Then the inevitable happened, again.



This is not getting harder. My only real concern is the aerial bombardment which always accompanies these attacks. We lost another 200 men (which I think translates to a straight 0.2 Manpower loss).

The conquest of Corsica, while nothing from a military victory standpoint, was not entirely pointless, though we will not station any men there.



In fact, our policy for the future is going to be counter-attack. We'll leave a unit here and there for rebel-crushing, but most of what we own will be undefended, just like Canada, with the intent to retake what we lose.

We then fought off yet another attack on Messina, losing only 11 men, killing 70, but then lost the difference to air attacks.

The tough part of the end of Persia, however, just like Ulysseys, was going to be getting back home!

[Saithis]

Uh oh, that's a scary looking battleship. Will the fleet get out safely?

[Surt]

Now that you cunningly have lure the Italians out, the British could show up and at least encourage you from the side-benches.

[InnocentIII]

Like the conquerors of old, The Steamroller of the North would have trouble getting home from their fantastic foray into Persia.

However, before the travails of the trip home even began, Canada faced a more serious problem - how to co-ordinate the activites of the Big Four (US, UK, USSR, CANADA) when only Canada really had a clue what should be done. Therefore, when Canadian troops reached the outskirts of the Persian capitol, invitations were sent out to the other big powers for a Tehran Conference. Then, of course, the Russians took Tehran, so the invitations were changed to the Isfahan Conference.

Nobody showed up. Apparently the "Big Three" (excuse me, who conquered Axis/Italian territory first?)(who has done the only real fighting in Europe?)(I mean offensive fighting?)(not "Adolf I thought you loved me" followed by eating a tub of Haagen Das and crying over "The Notebook", again, then defending Mother Russia fighting) those Big Three met in Tehran anyway, and Canada was not invited. So we have no idea what Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt discussed. No matter, the Isfahan Conference was extended to give the three men an opportunity for input into Canada's next move. Our generosity is legendary.

Nobody showed up. Well, truth be told, hundreds of people showed up, but they were all goat-herders and they wanted food or something. I don't speak peasant. Then there was this guy who wanted to sell the Prime Minister a monkey, he kept going on about what an excellent monkey it was, and how he needed to sell it to feed his family. An aide told the man to feed his family the monkey, and the Isfahan Conference broke up in rancor. Then this woman burst in and killed everyone.

Later was it learned that all the roadsigns said "Esfahan"! Undoubtedly the other three world leaders became lost on their way to the conference. Lucky, too, I mean no-one lives forever, but we wouldn't want all the world leaders to have died then and there. The upshot of it all was that the so-called "World Leaders" had nothing to say about Canada's plans, and so the conduct of World War 2 was once again left to the only quasi-competent leader available:

The Canadian Prime Minister. Sorry, his name escapes me, something like Fields of Athenry


We can only hope that the "Big Three" returned home safely. Travel these days is very dangerous.



The British have been telling us for months now that they have "absolute naval supremecy" and after Corsica we were assured that we would see no more Italian ships. Well, we can see Italian ships, and they can see us. We're outgunned and wounded and trying to run away before we become maimed or incapable.



Crap, what part of "run away" are you guys not getting? And no, I don't care about Central Planning, even though it is the second of three levels which will allow us to finally research "Guys in Reserve Start Fighting Eventually" technology.

Note to self: when ships have very low STR, sail them to Canada or some idiot will send them out to fight and get sunk. That's the first modern Naval unit we've actually lost, and this was simply trying to go pick up the Conquerors of Persia, not even bringing them back.



We bumped Central Planning research to the top in honor of our fallen comrades.

We lost five more Convoy ships to enemy attacks, most headed to our new Persian possessions. Then something unexpected happened!



I feel bad for those 8 guys, there wasn't even an air attack to even up the losses this time. We are still at negative 20.5 Manpower, so I shouldn't complain about my low losses. Checking out our future builds, we notice that the combination of renewed Convoy losses and additional commitments has left us dangerously low in the Merchant Marine department.



We moved two convoys which had some progress above the lower Escorts on the production list.

We then loaded up five Divisions for their return trip to Sicily, in preparation of Canada continuing to prosecute most of World War 2 alone. The men fought off a minotaur, a woman with really bad hair, and then faced a new opponent, heretofore only dreamed of in our worst nightmares: Japan!



We found the British fleet! And some Americans! Turns out the woman with bad hair was more worrisome. The Japanese lost one of their three Submarine units to the combined power of Canada and assorted allies. We could have sworn we saw Churchill in his tub on the CV, too.

Then the men made it home safely.

What? I'm not some old blind guy who can turn this into a seven year, epic journey that people will still be talking about millenia from now. They made it home. Safely. Sorry. Fortunately the Italians attacked Messina again! Final Score 166-12. We're now up six games to nil and thinking of promoting to a higher league.

Our manpower was down 15.3 on March 23rd, but down 19.5 on the 24th. It's the Cobb Salad, I'm sure of it. In other news:



That was a pretty quick turn-around, I think. Not exactly proof that Canada pre-empted Barbarossa, but definitely bad news for the bad guys.

Here's a broader look at the rest of Europe:



By the 11th of April, our Manpower was down to negative 22.2, and I was having a harder time understanding what any of this meant. [Ed - it means you can't build anything. Me - thanks!]

So we loaded up the troops we did have and went looking for trouble. Hint: a famous battle was fought here, an epic struggle which will be re-created before your very eyes! Plus, we found the "on" switch to those fancy radios the Americans keep sending us. That will help alot.



Epic struggle? Or not. We could have used Armored Cars.



Turns out the Germans ran off when they saw the Steamroller of the North approaching! Cowards! We want someone to fight!



Well, we want someone to fight, within reason. Hmm, massive Italian fleet in port, multiple Italian aircraft on the runway, (we learned later) several Italian divisions defending. So a landing would be a long, dragged-out affair, contested by land, at sea and in the air.

Nah. Like Alexander the Great, who after defeating a minor tribe in India and learning that "the bigger tribes are just across the river" wept for there were no more worlds to conquer, we wept. Then we remembered that Alexander the Great never met the French.