War in China

[lomyrin]

Here is an example of the war in China from the MWiF start in Sep/Oct 39

Japan is going to go all out for China and will ignore the Russians in the Far East. Maintaining sufficient garrison to minimize the appearance of Partisans is one of the Japanese problems. The extra Chinese cities, this option is turned on, will help the Chinese survive a lot better than in the CWif game.

Shown here are the starting positions.

[lomyrin]

We are now after the 5th impulse, the Axis third one.

China has lost a few units but have been able to retreat slowly while remaining in supply. The weather has been fine so far.

The Chungking Militia unit that was in ChengChow and now has retreated inland is hindering the Japanese advance and might be lost but it is inexpensive and can be rebuilt quickly.

Chang Cha in the south has 2 Chinese Garrison units and a Division, this is a critical rail city junction and Japan needs to control it to advance much farther into China and their resources. Japan has been careful to avoid garrison value defeating contact with Chinese units and so far does not have many disorganized units. At this point the risk for Chinese partisans at the end of the turn is only 5%.

[lomyrin]

After the Axis 4th impulse with the weather remaining fine the Japanse have penetrated a little further but they have suffered several units disrupted and are mindful about the garrison needs to avoid Partisans now that the turn could end at any time.

The Chinese Chungking Mil has been lost and the Chinese are planning to rebuild it quickly. There is some Japanse penetrations in the central mountains so China will have to make sure there are some Chinese units available to block the Japanese progress here.

[IKerensky_alt]

In the South the Chinese are better to defend in mountain behind river on the two side of the Canton-Changyan Railroad... each unit here blocade one or two japanese unit for supply keeping or they had to be assaulted wich isn't exactly a pleasure for the smaller Japanese South Army.
 
Commies are deployed far too much to the back, they should take care of Chengtu defend or abandon it totally , freeing unit for a more stronger defence of middle China.
 
Too many strong units are deployed near Nanning, put one fast in the mountain in front of Hainan and you will add trouble to the japanese and make him far harder to attaque with only one HQ avaliable... China need not to be a punching ball but retort to supply cutting attack or mountain guerilla making the Japanese choice of assaulting weak chinese unit in mountain or keeping supply keeper out of garrison and frontline duty.
 
The true Japanese ennemy in China is supply.
 
Also the SU player should really enjoy the current japanse setup because Mandchouria is rip for the picking...

[lomyrin]

ORIGINAL: Greywolf

In the South the Chinese are better to defend in mountain behind river on the two side of the Canton-Changyan Railroad... each unit here blocade one or two japanese unit for supply keeping or they had to be assaulted wich isn't exactly a pleasure for the smaller Japanese South Army.

Commies are deployed far too much to the back, they should take care of Chengtu defend or abandon it totally , freeing unit for a more stronger defence of middle China.

Too many strong units are deployed near Nanning, put one fast in the mountain in front of Hainan and you will add trouble to the japanese and make him far harder to attaque with only one HQ avaliable... China need not to be a punching ball but retort to supply cutting attack or mountain guerilla making the Japanese choice of assaulting weak chinese unit in mountain or keeping supply keeper out of garrison and frontline duty.

The true Japanese ennemy in China is supply.

Also the SU player should really enjoy the current japanse setup because Mandchouria is rip for the picking...

For this game example the Russians kindly agreed to leave the Japanese untouched in Manchuria. On the other hand on this scale of map Manchuria is quite large and this gives ample time for Japan to counter and hold a Russian advance that Germany would love to see.

The Chinese in the south began closer to Canton but a daring Japanese attack that cost them an Engineer breached that position. Old CWiF experiences are part of the reasons for placing the Chinese in the south.

The Commies are a bit brittle and their main concern is to keep control of the mountain pass that leads to Si-An and the hinterland with its resources and factories. In time their numbers will increase and cause Japan problems.

Supply is indeed a large problem for Japan and in this map with the extra Chinese cities the usual Chinese supply problems have been mostly eliminated.

Other than that your comments of course illustrates the differing opinions of players and thus contributes to the great variety of game situations. ]

[lomyrin]

Axis impulse 9 of Sep/Oct 39 has been completed and the turn did not end.

Japan made a fairly daring attack on a Communist Mil at the approaches to the Si-An area and succeded in knocking out the Mil but at a cost of a Japanese Inf unit and another one disrupted. This increased the partisan risk to 18 % which is not to Japan's liking.

China will be looking at placing smoe units in the central mountains as sson as they can get them there.

[lomyrin]

At impulse 10 with a good chance of ending the turn China moves adjacent to Japanese units in the south in order to increase the Partisan chances, now at 27 %

Unfortunately the turn did not end but the next impulse sees a weather change toi rain in most of China.

[brian brian]

fascinating stuff, thanks for posting!

Looking forward to playing on this map; I haven't played cops-and-robbers / cowboys-and-indians since I was very young.

China can really suffer when the fall of 1939 is continually sunny and warm all across their land.

[MajorDude]

Thanks for the neat pics and commentary!

It looks just great! [:)]

[lomyrin]

It is now at impulse 13 with rain in North China and storm in the south.

The Communists withdrew into the mountain and left a City empty to the East of Si -An. Nationalists have begun moving a couple of units northeastwards into the central mountains and have occupied the central mountain city.

The first turn ended after this impulse and the partisans did not enter the China area this time. Chinese production is at 5 buildpoints so they will build a random 2 of the 3 Militia units in the Chinese force pool. The cost is 2 buildpoints each and they enter the game immediately in their home city. China will save 1 buildpoint for future use.

[BallyJ]

Thank you for this thread. Looks great, can't wait, Asia will certainly be different in this scale. Keep up the good work!

[lomyrin]

After the end of turn 1 Japan built all infantry that will arrive in January/february 40. China built 2 Militia units.

The new Chinese Mils were Chungking and Lanchow and the units are now there.

The Axis have the initiative for the November/December 39 turn and the weather in China turned to snow.

Japan occupied Tungkwan and shipped some new units into Canton. In a combined action that was all they could do on land. Japan also groundstruck the hex east of Si-An with no effect. The Communists have 2 units there, a 7-3 Infantry and a Garrison unit.

[lomyrin]

In November/December with inclement weather the impulses advance quicker than in clear weather and it went from impulse 1 directly to impulse 4 and the Chinese are hoping for a short turn with more bad weather to gain time and more troops. It is snow in north China and rain in the south.

Japan broke down an infantry unit west of Chengchow into 2 fast Divisions threatening a flanking move in the north.

The Chinese are moving troops into the snowy central mountains to draw supply from Ankang and in the south in rain they are also moving forward a little to try containing the Japanese forces that just were reinforced by landings in Canton.

The communists are trying to contain the Japanese east of Si-An and the snow helps the defense a lot.

[lomyrin]

The Japanese 2nd impulse this turn, it is already impulse number 7 and the turn could end... The weather is still snow in the north but fine in the south.

Jap Divisions and other units advance towards Si-An and appear to be trying to envelop the area to force the Communists to withdraw from the mountains in front of Si-An in order to defend the city and its supply. There a re no attacks in the snow and the Japanese are careful to preserve a large garrison to minimize partisan problems.

In the south in fine weather Japan makes an attack and using HQ support to increase the odds kills a Chinese infanrty unit.

[lomyrin]

Turn 2 ended on a roll of 1.  Japan produced more infantry and a Territorial and a Militia unit.
China produced another Mil - and only the Si-An Mil was left in the forcepool so it was produced and placed in Si-An as a sorely needed reinforcement. China also produced a Mountain infantry that will appear  in spring of 40.
 
Turn 3 began with another winter roll and a rapid advance of the impulse track will occur in January/February of 40.
 
   

[lomyrin]

Turn 3, January/Februari 40 and still snow in the north and fine in the south of China.
Japan has the initiative and taking a combined action is shipping the new reinforcement troops to the China sea in order to land them in China. Japan lands one Infanrty unit in Canton and advances with one northeast of Si-An and another one in the south. They do not attack yet.

[lomyrin]

Tunr 3, JAn/Feb 40 impulse 4 due to the weather acceleration of impulses. It is the first Chinese impulse.

China moves a few units to better protect its defensive lines and still hopes for an early end of the turn.

The weather effects option has been turned off this time but it is still snow in the north and fine in the south.

[Lothrim]

Hi lomyrin
 
It is great that you make the time to show us these photos. It makes it clear that while the war in china is very different it is not totally broken.
I think the greatest change from the boardgame is that you need to pay a lot of attention to the front at all times. Since attacks are made not by concentrating force against a single hex, but by concentrating a great amount of counters in an area and then oozing through the opponents lines, the amount of units will make a difference.
 
Overall I belive that china will profit from the change. Not because it has more counters, but because it can take a land action with impunity every impulse. By constantly shifting his mobile troops around he can force japan to take many land actions.
 
Personally I like the boardgame as it is, but I will buy the computer game anyway, just to play the Fascist Tide scenario.

[micheljq]

Thanks for the great screenshots.

Against who or against what do you play?

[lomyrin]

This time the play is between the Chinese marshall Lom and the Japanese high command Yrin.

No AI as yet so it is solitaire