(being the report of a solo wargaming campaign.)

1^st September 1939

Germany invades Poland.

Germany had 8 Industrial Points (IPC), and invested them in creating one new Infantry Corps (cost 3) and one new Panzer Corps (cost 5).  These will be available to deploy on or after 1^st October.

Germany moved two panzer corps and two infantry corps into Poland, supported by one Fighter Luftflotte.  The initial attacks were defended by one infantry and one tank corps of the Polish army, which were both forced to retreat eastwards.

At the same time an infantry corps attacked northwards  from Czechoslovakia.  This attack was repulsed.

The Kriegsmarine moved north from Kiel, heading towards the North Atlantic with one surface flotilla and two submarine flotillas.

A note on game mechanics.

Each combat unit (for land forces, referred to as a Corps), has a starting strength of 6.  Thus it may roll 6 dice in attack or defence.  Armoured units hit on a 3 or less in attack, and defend with a roll of 2 or less.  Infantry successfully attack with a roll of 1 and defend on 2 or less.  Each hit reduces the enemy strength by one point.  At the end of an attack, both sides tally their remaining points and side with the lower total must retreat its corps directly away from the stronger individual enemy corps.

Air units (flotte/groups), whether they fought or not, must land in friendly territory at the end of the turn.  If they have insufficient remaining movement, they are lost.

Game recording

By using Microsoft Excel the map can be added as a background behind an invisible grid.  Unit symbols drawn from various embedded or downloaded fonts (e.g. ”Wingdings” or ”Tanks-WW2”) can be moved freely over the background and each unit may be annotated with its current strength, movement, attack and defence values to be revealed when the cursor is placed on the cell.  I have used this method in several campaign games.  The game map is saved at the end of each campaign day to a new file to keep a record.

A second sheet in the workbook can keep track of territories, their ownership, Industrial Points and so on.  I keep a third sheet for recording the various fonts in use and a fourth to add rule revisions as we go along.