Unconditional Surrender! is quickly becoming one of my favourite war games of all time. The low counter density and vast scale of the game means that turns go quickly, and winning battles is decisive. The good weather in March broke and torrential rains and snow storms wracked Europe. Hopes of an early push by the Axis forces were quickly dampened.

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

The Germans opened up the proceedings by trying to have the 7th Army punch through and drive back the French 9th Army in order to take Brussels. The hope was that in doing so the Belgians would capitulate and their field army would be removed from the game helping to widen the gap in the Allies lines. The French put up stiff resistance however and fended off the German advances, aided by the weather and some very weary French Air Force pilots.

The German 12th and 1st Armies conducted a heavy assault, aided by the Luftwaffe, but once again were unable to make any headway due to inclement weather. All of this time in delaying the German advances has been a great boon to the Western Allies. The UK production has been aided by Commonwealth trade, taking the sting out of the strategic war which they were losing. Also every month they keep the Germans focused in the West gives Stalin more time to reconsider the Nazi-Soviet Pact. The Policy reevaluation will be due in October, so if war breaks out in the East before France can be taken the Axis will be in a very tough spot economically speaking.

In Europe, the Axis couldn’t get anything else done, the weather and the terrain just made everything so sticky. The Italians tried to push across the boarder of Libya into Egypt, but the Italian 10th army was poorly positioned and couldn’t make anything significant happen.

20170603_150946 — *With Modifiers the Italians couldn’t get the British Forces dislodged.*

allied pre assault — *Coalition Forces initiate a huge assault in poor weather.*

A combined French and Belgian force tried to counter attack the 7th German Army but the allies ran into a similar issue that the Axis forces had: the weather.

Allied assault roll — *The German 7th Army was too well entrenched and put up a stalwart defense.*

The French 6th Army, stationed in Amsterdam, attempted to break out south-east and push the German 12 army over the banks of the Meuse. They decided such a risky endeavor was necessary as their supply lines were in danger of being cut and they were in danger of being pushed into the sea after any kind of successful offensive. Unfortunately, disaster struck and German emplacements inflicted severe casualties on the French. The French became reduced, leaving them in a worse position than when they started. Luckily the supplies through Rotterdam meant that replacements could be sent to bolster the French forces making them full strength again.

Diplomatically speaking the Axis and the Western Allies both bought political success markers back into the cup (along with 2 no-event markers). The USSR drew a no event chit, so there was nothing new going on in that phase.

I got the turn track and the faction displays sorted out again, all except the Russian conditional box, I just couldn’t bring myself to stack them all up again.