[Adamius]

Vårt testparti World in Flames med Days of Decision avslutades något abrupt under våren 1937 då den tjeckoslovakiska armén, allierad med Frankrike, stormade in i Berlin. Tyskland hävdade (med viss rätt) att anfallet inte var helt i enlighet med reglerna men vi kom ändå överens om att starta ett nytt parti då vi trots allt hade lärt oss en hel del om reglerna.

Laguppställningen är dock densamma:

Rikskansler Lovetz (Love Jansson)
Il Duce Svenssoni (Jens Svensson)
Kotei Waruberu-sama (Mats Wahlberg)
Generalsekreterare Träffskij (Pär Träff)
Premiärminister Jessics (Jessica Jalkenburg)
President av Frankrike och USA, Ordförande av kinesiska nationalistregeringen "Mannen med tre stolar" (Adam Thorp)

Vi spelar med Days of Decision III.

Januari/Februari 1936
Rikskansler Lovetz beordrar Wehrmacht att besätta Rhenlandet, Duce Svenssoni förhandlar fram ett importavtal för rumänsk olja och övriga länder bidar sin tid. Italienarna börjar skeppa ner trupp till kriget i Etiopen. Den brittiska garnisonen vid Suez-kanalen tittar misstänksamt på men släpper igenom transporterna.

Mars/April 1936
Generalsekreterare Träffskij inser plötsligt att hela den sovjetiska armén är ute efter honom och beslutar sig för att skjuta av hela rasket. Amerikanarna tycker att detta är helt okej. Frankrike och Storbritannien skriver på ett avtal med varandra där engelsk malm och olja säljs till Frankrike för att stärka skyddet mot hunnerna. Tyskland och Italien kontrar med att satsa massivt på politisk verksamhet (MP0(g), gather bid points). Italienska trupper traskar långsamt upp i de etiopiska bergen i skitväder. De små flygplanen de har tillgängliga har inte räckvidd nog för att slå mot Addis Ababa, och det italienska artilleriet lyckas inte få någon större verkan.

Maj/Juni 1936
Träffskij inser att hans regering plötsligt gör vad han säger åt den nu när hans gamla motståndare "räknar träd" i sibiriska arbetsläger (+2 i politisk effektivitet) och försöker genast dra stora växlar på detta (MP0(g), gather bid points). Italien införlivar Österrike med Tysklands mer eller goda minne. "Kejsardömet Österrike-Italien har nu rest sig ur askorna från det Stora Kriget" säger Svenssoni stolt. Kommentarer om att det var Österrike-Ungern som stred i första världskriget tystas snabbt ner. Tyskland köper svensk Kiruna-malm och Frankrike farmar budgivningspoäng. Den stora överraskningen är Storbritannien som skriver under Londonavtalet om att inte expandera sin flotta alltför mycket. Ögonbryn höjs världen över, men Norge tycker detta är jättebra och börjar krypa mot det demokratiska lägret.
Italien fortsätter att bombardera Addis Ababa med artilleri och lyckas nu desorganisera Selasies stab. De lyckas dock inte genomföra något uppföljande anfall. Lovetz beordrar en aggressiv expansion av Kriegsmarine, vilket får Frankriker och Storbritannien att besvärat skruva på sig. Även US Navy skickar ut ett par nyrestaurerade skepp ur torrdockorna.

Juli/Augusti 1936
Tyska Abwehr försöker genomföra en större underrättelseoperation mot USA men kommer ingen vart. Militärt händer ingenting. Det italiensk-etiopiska dödläget har nu blivit tacksamt material för politiska skämttecknare i hela Västeuropa. US Navy sjösätter två nya hangarfartyg med pompa och ståt. Amerikansk press mörkar det faktum att Royal Navy har sjösatt dubbelt så många fartyg under samma tidsperiod.

September/Oktober 1936
Frankrike, Kina och USA tillkännager överraskande en trippelallians där USA lovar att dela med sig av sitt överflöd till de andra båda staterna i generösa handelsavtal. Den politiska kartan skakar till rejält över detta, och de övriga länderna får inte agera det här draget. Tyskland och USA fortsätter att expandera sina flottor, men även Luftwaffe börjar med ett ambitiöst utbildningsprogram för nya piloter.
Italien och Tyskland försöker bluffa USA på det politiska planet ("Vem lägger mest resurser på nya politiska budgivningspoäng?"). USA hävdar moralisk seger i det partiet politisk poker, men undviker alla frågor om hur mycket de har övertrasserat sitt konto hos internationella kreditinstitut.
Konvojfartyg ger sig ut från olika hamnar för att skeppa de material som har utlovats i olika handelsavtal, men det dåliga vädret gör att de inte hinner ut i tid för produktionsfasen.

November/December 1936
Demokraterna vinner en jordskredsseger i USA och lovar att "göra allt för att hindra den fascistiska aggressionen mot våra bröder och systrar i Europa och Asien". Brittiska handelsministeriet sluter ett avtal med Venezuela som gör det landet till en bensinmack för demokratierna och avslutar sedan det politiska draget. Demokratierna jublar, fascisterna gråter.
Skitvädret till havs fortsätter och ett par konvojlinjer förblir oavslutade.

[Vvornth]

Trevlig rapportering! DoDIII kan orsaka en hel del resultat som får rätt stark innebörd på ett parti WiF men än så länge verkar det hållas rätt jämnt i ert parti.

[tinG]

Trevlig rapportering!

Verkligen!  

[jonjac]

Men var är bilderna?

[Delirium]

Instämmer i hyllningskören! Är själv mycket nyfiken på Days of Decision som jag aldrig vågat testa. Hoppas det går bra för er och att ert parti blir långt och spännande!

[Andreas Lundin]

[Adamius]

Jag har skrivit det här på engelska för att kunna lägga upp det på Boardgamegeek.com, och jag utgick kallt från att de flesta på det här forumet torde vara tillräckligt bekanta med det anglo-saxiska tungomålet för att kunna hänga med. Om någon önskar en översättning så är det bara att säga till. Det finns lite bilder som jag kommer att lägga in senare.

And the story continues ...

January/February 1937

Il Duce orders an increase in production for the "glory of the Italian Empire". The United States join their fellow anglo-saxons as President Thorpe signs the London Naval Treaty, thus increasing their political efficiency to a mighty 2. Posh dinner after the signing, all the celebrities are there. The Norwegians see all this treaty signing as an indicator that Democracy is the way to go and keep moving in that direction. The US roll an end to the political turn after their action and the British, who were next to act, glare daggers at them for that.

Lousy weather prevents the Italian army from making any progress in Ethiopia, but the Allies manage to bring their last convoy points out to sea and ore and oil starts flowing all around the world. All the French factories have resources now, but the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe is still expanding much faster than anybody else's. China takes another loan from the world bank to pay for some infantry.

March/April 1937

Remarkably cautious bidding finds the Commonwealth and the United States at the top of the action list. They quickly sign a trade agreement "wherein the United States of America shall provide the United Kingdom with one resource". The other countries mutter about the Commonwealth just trying to tag along on the US trade bonus, but fall silent when it is pointed out that this bonus is only 1/20 build points. Venezuela is placed firmly under the American boot on the political map. Oil, oil, glorious oil! Germany finally gets an action and surprises absolutely no-one when they farm bid points and then end the political turn. Italy almost makes progress in Ethiopia. Almost, but not quite.

May/June 1937

Germany buys Yugoslavian ore, the Commonwealth signs a treaty with Norway, France finally has an election, Italy farms bid points and then actually manages to kill half the Ethiopian army. Jaws drop all over the world and the military jokes are quickly silenced.

July/August 1937

Red flags bearing the hammer and sickle are raised all over Turkey as the country erupts into a civil war! The communist-backed rebels take Istanbul and small enclaves in central and eastern parts of the country, but they get "all the good troops" as the fascists put it. The beleaguered government forces ask Germany to lead them through these trying times. Italy sags into the chair as their plans for securing the Eastern Mediterranean go up in flames, smoke and communism. The democratic observers sit back and enjoy the show.

Germany farms more bid points, Italy buys Bulgarian ore, and the Commonwealth and France both farm more bid points before ending the political turn. Italy finally smashes the Selasie HQ in Addis Adeba, but the cheers quickly turn into groans as they realise how long it will take to march them down to the Red Sea where a single transport is available to take them home to Italy. "One unit at a time, please" becomes the new motto for the Italian navy.

September/October 1937

The Soviet Union finally admits that they might have had something to do with the civil war in Turkey when they openly back the rebels with some extra infantry, which quickly secures the railroad supply lines to the Soviet factories. The political turn continues with the United Kingdom signing a second treaty with Norway, essentially turning them into a part of the British Commonwealth. In Japan, Tojo has had enough of the incompetent bumbling of the sitting government and assumes leadership of the country. Not a moment too soon, the fascists agree, and welcome their new brother firmly in the Dictatorship faction of the political map. The Commonwealth had the option to drop behind Japan, thus preventing the Tojo premiership, but dismissed the idea as "poor sportsmanship". The political race is officially on in Asia! The Chinese are suddenly very, very worried.

Germany saw how effective the coup was in Turkey and decides to try one of their own, with Spain as the target. Oh noes! The German agitators are captured and hanged, and Spain takes a sizeable political step towards the welcoming arms of France instead. The US frowns at Germany and slaps them with a few extra entry markers. Italy farms bid points.

As the summer turns into autumn, the weather worsens. The government in Turkey flies a bombing mission to Istanbul but does no damage. As they land in Ankara, the rebel troops march down and capture a railrod junction, shutting the loyalist air unit off from its oil supply in Smyrna. No planes for you! Poor weather slows down the rate of the advance for the rebel troops, and no significant progress is made in the civil war. Same goes for the Italian troops in Africa waiting to return home. They glumly settle down to celebrate Christmas in the Ethiopian mountains.

November/December 1937

France does an aggressive bid to go first in the political turn, and then surprise everybody (except for the British, who had been informed in advance) by holding an election, the second for the year. The fascists and communists look at each other in confusion. What is this "election" thing that everybody keeps talking about? Germany farms bid points again and the others leaders give Kanzler Lovets a puzzled glance. Why do you need so many? The Soviet Union sends General Timoshenko to show the Turkish rebels how things are done. The loyalists plead for Italian support, but none is coming since the Italians farm bid points instead, as does Japan and the Commonwealth. Could it possibly be that everybody is preparing to gear up as the new year begins?

Bad weather during the winter turn, so nothing much happens from a military point of view. Significant Japanese troop concentrations are massing in Manchuria, right next to the Chinese border. Also, Japanese naval units are taking up positions in the China Sea, and IJN Marines are regrouped to Formosa. The smell of impending invasion is thick in the air, but the turn ends.

January/February 1938

Aggressive bidding as everybody tries to join the arms race. Germany bids for two options in hope of ending the turn before anybody else gets to gear up, but France actually manages to beat them to the first initiative position by going "all in". France, Germany and Japan all gear up. Germany also demands the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia, safe in the knowledge that France cannot help the Commonwealth in backing the Czech. The Kanzler cleverly uses the resulting massive negative German influence with the Czechs to move them out of their stacking position with France and as far away as possible while still staying in the Democratic ideology. Bold move, mein Herr, bold move! Japan ends the political turn on a lucky roll before the Soviet Union or the Commonwealth have a go at gearing up.

The poor winter weather continues, and very little happens on the map. Germany keeps expanding the Luftwaffe, France reinforces its military presence along the Italian and German borders, the Japanese keep moving troops toward the Chinese border but still do not cross it. China decides not to bother with paying for a gear-up since the impending Japanese invasion will solve that for them, and instead spend the last of their credit on a corps of mountain infantry, trying not to be too bothered by the fact that it is a communist Chinese unit.

The Great War is drawing closer ...

[Adamius]

March/April 1938

The Commonwealth is just as eager to hop on the arms race as the other powers, and start the turn by gearing up their production. They then politely but firmly ask Czechoslovakia to get back down under the French flag on the political map. Italy and Germany bid as well to start forming the "pact of steel", but Italy rolls an end to the political turn before Germany has a chance to respond to their treaty! The sound of the collective faces of three fascist players hitting the table simultaneously is heard in the room. Secretary General Träffskij, who was hoping to gear up the Red Army, is also disappointed. Strangely enough, the US had bid all but one of their points but the turn ended before the got to act. What were they up to ... ?

As customs declare, the spring weather is crappy and the launching ceremony for a new Italian aircraft carrier is somewhat spoiled by the rain. However, the moment there is a break in the clouds the Imperial Japanese Army storm across the Manchurian border and into China! Unfortunately, the Chinese have made good use of what little production capacity they have had available during the last year (historically, the Marco Polo Bridge incident occurred in July 1937) and the IJA smacks headfirst into a wall of Chinese troops, suffering significant losses. A naval air strike towards the ships moored in Canton meets with greater success, and two ships are damaged while the third is flipped over.

Absolutely nothing happens in Europe, apart from the Commonwealth spending nearly their entire income on bid points. What is their long-term plan?

Maj/June 1938

The Commonwealth reveals their plan by going all-in on bid points and then placing a coup cell. The exact country is kept secret, but the fascists are given the hint that it begins with an "S" and ends with "pain". France walks around the table and gives them a big hug. Italy and Germany respond by signing a treaty wherein Germany provides quite a bit of steel (two build points) to their friends on the other side of the Alps. The USSR gears up. Vodka and rifles for everyone!

In China, marines of the Imperial Japanese Navy ship across the Formosa straits from Taihoku into Foochow, securing the harbor without having to risk an invasion. However, the Chinese have used the production bonus from last turn to reinforce their northern border even more, and the IJA does not dare another venture across. The last operational vessel in the Chinese navy, the Ying Swei, leave the port in Canton and head out into the China Sea to hunt for the unescorted Japanese convoys there. They miss their search roll, however. The Japanese admiral in charge of convoy security commits seppuku and his replacement immediately dispatches a few battleships to hunt down and destroy the Chinese cruiser, vowing to never let something like this happen again. IJN units also stop all shipments of American oil and ore into Japan, lowering the effectiveness of the Chinese reinforcement efforts.

July/August 1938

Japan finally manages to play its reactionary JA6, "Peking Bridge Incident", thus formally clearing up the paperwork for the invasion of China. The Commonwealth overhears Italy and Germany discussing trying to coup Spain several times to exhaust the coup cell there, and immediately places a second one in the same country. No Spanish civil war for you, Italy! The British diplomats then kindly point out to the Kingdom of Sweden how dangerous the Soviets are what with their warmongering at all (-2 USSR influence from the gear-up) and the Swedes take a cautious step towards the democrats, away from the fascists. Furious at this "Anglo-saxon meddling", Germany signs an alliance with Sweden, bringing them back to the middle of the political map. Italy and Russia farm bid points but Russia ends the turn before France has a chance to do the same.

Japan attempts a second bombing strike against Beijing but fail miserably. In their frustration, they miss the Communist Chinese forces massing in the Taihang mountains west of the city. The Communist march down from the mountains in a surprise attack and obliterate a Japanese infantry corps without any losses of their own south of Tien-Tsin. The Japanese commander of the northern theatre goes to his ancestors to apologise. They calculate another strike against the Chinese city, but can only get 17-6 in odds and so choose to wait.

In Europe, Italy declares war on Greece! The United States take a look at the entry tracks and give the Italians the friendly advice "Dude ... chill, okay?". The Greek turn to Moscow for support and guidance, and in a daring raid the Greek Girg Arsoff slink out of the harbor in Athens and sends the much larger C. di Cavour running back to port in Italy. However, an Italian follow-up is much more effective and the Greek navy is eradicated as a fighting force. The Commonwealth accepts the fact that the monsoon rain is going to keep falling over India the entire turn and so order their territorial forces in Burma to keep marching south towards the rebels occupying Rangoon. The territorials are flipped from the march in the rain and two impulses later the weather turns nice and sunny all over India, naturally. The Commonwealth makes a very serious attempt to strangle their American-trained meteorologists.

September/October 1938

Germany and France conclude the secret negotiations that have been going on for the better part of two years when Berlin starts the political turn by offering the "Bonnet-Rippentrop pact" with Paris. The USSR player suddenly jumps up in his chair, going "what?". France accepts, signs the pact and frees up the German Wehrmacht to turn its attention east.

The Italian army gets hammered badly in Athens, buying Greece at least another year but only delaying the inevitable: the Greek fleet is gone and they have no fuel to reorganise their airforce. A Turkish cavalry unit makes a daring breakout against the communist rebels surrounding it at Sinop, attacking on the 1:2 odds table with only a 10% chance of survival. They succeed, and the heroic charge of "Turkish Rambo" is front-page material across newspapers all over the world!

The Burmese territorial army finally manages to squash the rebels and retake Rangoon. Bad weather does not affect the outcome much when the defender has a combat strength of zero.

Japanese forces execute a daring landing into Tsing-Tao, cutting off the Chinese air unit in Tsi-Nan from its fuel supplies, and then manage to end the turn before the Chinese can send forces north from Nanking to reopen the route.

November/December 1938

The Commonwealth suddenly notices the considerable concentrations of German troops, ships and planes along the northern shore lines of the Third Reich and fears that the German-French alliance has left her wide open to "Operation Seelöwe", but a quick sifting through the piles shows only a single troop transport. Also, the Luftwaffe planes based there do not have the range to fly to the British Isles. The tense moment subsides.

Germany and Japan farm bid points in preparation for the gear-up activities of next year. Italy plays its delayed declaration of war against Greece and then ends the political turn. The USSR and the Commonwealth, both heavy bidders, grumble angrily about this.

The winter weather is horrible, but the Japanese Army still attacks Beijing. Despite the conditions (blizzard, -3 odds levels), they obliterate the unsuspecting defenders and capture the city. They also capture Tsi-Nan, destroying the doomed Chinese air unit there, and start pushing the Communists south through the mountains. Has the winds of fate turned against the Chinese? The next year will tell ...

[Vvornth]

Hmm... nu börjar relationerna bli komplexa. Här känner jag att man förlorar lite av sammanhanget pga att man inte har full koll på DoDIII.

[Adamius]

Det är två saker du behöver veta om DoD om du "bara" har spelat WiFFE tidigare:

1. Det är tre sidor i spelet istället för två (axelmakter och allierade): fascister, demokratier och kommunister. Det är alltså starkare separation mellan Sovjetunionen och de övriga av de allierade jämfört med i WiFFE. Man kan till och med som ryss välja att alliera sig med fascisterna och gemensamt stampa demokratierna till en kletig massa.

2. Det finns tre nivåer av allianser.
Nivå 1: "Okej, låt oss inte aktivt börja kriga med varandra. Dessutom kan du få lite malm och stål av mig om du behöver det."
Nivå 2: "Du, om det skiter sig för dig så kan jag hjälpa till. Gör du detsamma för mig?"
Nivå 3: "Vi lever eller dör tillsammans."

Som det ser ut nu så har Frankrike, England och Kina lyckats sluta varsin allians på nivå 1 med Onkel Sam. England och Frankrike har även en nivå 1 med varandra. Frankrike har sedan tidigare en etta med Italien respektive Sovjetunionen, men de har i princip ingen betydelse längre.

Tyskland och Italien har en nivå 1 med varandra. Japan har ingen allians med någon någonstans.

Alliansen mellan Tyskland och Frankrike ger oss ett icke-aggressionsavtal som innebär att ingen av oss kan förklara krig med varandra på i storleksordningen två eller tre år. Med andra ord har Frankrike säkrat sin överlevnad och Tyskland har sin västra flank fri.

Blir det tydligare nu, eller har jag bara lyckats förvirra dig än mer?