Vassal Game - Rise and Decline of the Third Reich

by

Our group of gamers and I have decided to use the Vassal game engine to play the old Avalon Hill game 4th Edition Rise and Decline of the Third Reich. We decided on the Five player 1942 Scenario. Since the game allows saving at any point, I will be placing the Saved Game file on the site to allow players to have a master copy of each turn.

This should go without saying, but in the world, we live in, must be said. This is a game, only a game, not a promotion of any political system or view point.

Players / Sides

  • Germany - Me
  • Italy - Andy
  • Britain - Alan
  • Russia - Norm
  • United States - Mike

Save Points

  1. Initial Setup: Download
  2. June 17th: Download
  3. June 25th: Download
  4. June 29th: Download
  5. July 20th: Download
  6. August 6th: Download
  7. November 17th: Download
  8. November 23rd: Download
  9. November 30th: Download
  10. December 7th: Download
  11. December 14th: Download

History

Spring 1942

    • Italians fleet in Mediterranean is mauled in battles with British Fleet.
    • Finnish forces cause of failure in Leningrad Offensive.
    • German Spring Offensive is costly, but opens gaps in Soviet lines.
    • Soviet’s land airborne units in Helsinki, Finnish military collapses.
    • Hungarian forces devastated in joint German/Hungarian push to sunder Soviet Lines.
    • German/Italian/British forces enjoy Mediterranean Beaches, as no combat takes place there.

Summer 1942

    • Allies gain Initiative in the War.
    • Russian fight battle of Attrition and devastate the Hungarian Forces on the Eastern Front.
    • Russians reinforce by pulling large amount of Tank forces from Far-East.
    • British Reinforce African Force with more Tanks.
    • Greek Partisans appear.
    • With the British reinforcement of Maltese Forces, supplies dwindle for Axis Forces and Africa Corps loses combat effectiveness.
    • Americans start bringing in Military units to England.
    • Germans fall back to reform a defensive line on Eastern Front.
    • Germans Mobilize numerous "Garrison Units to better defend the Western Front, and possible Allied Landings.
  2. Fall 1942
    • Allies continue to hold the Initiative in the War.
    • Russians cautiously advance to recontact the German Lines.
    • The English continue to reinforce the Mediterranean Front.
    • American continue to build up forces in the United Kingdom.
    • Germans continue to hammer at the Russians.
    • Germans and Italians pull out of Africa.
  3. Winter 1942
    • Russians land on Romanian coast with troops from Sevastopol.
    • Russians push German lines near the Sea of Azov back, and surround German Units.
    • Americans and British continue to build up forces to Invade Mainland Europe.
  4. Spring 1943
    • German U-boat campaign utter failure as allies sink majority of subs.
    • The Russians advance and capture Bucharest and Romanian Government collapses.
    • British land their African Forces in Greece and capture Sofia in Bulgaria and quickly nab Sofia in a lightning attack.
    • Italians land south of Tunis in Tunisia.
    • Americans land armor and infantry in Dieppe.
  5. Summer 1943
    • The Russian Summer offensive destroys Army Group South.
    • British forces fail to exploit their gains in Greece and Bulgaria, and land more troops in the region.
    • Americans attempt second landing on main land France but get beaten back taking severe losses.
    • The Germans fallback across the entire eastern front to form a new defensive line near the Polish and Ukrainian border. 
    • Germans destroy the American airborne forces in Belgium.
    • Italians move armored units just North of Greece in an attempt to Greece.
  6. Fall 1943
    • Russians advance across Eastern front and surround city of Smolensk encircling a German Armored Unit. The Germans retreated further than the Russians could advance.
    • British and Americans make further landings in France where huge air battles decimate the Western German Luftwaffe. 
    • Emboldened French Partisans cut off Germans forces in Bordeaux France.
    • Partisans in Albania cut-off German and Italian forces.
    • Germans counter attack and destroy American armored units approaching Paris, gutting German forces in western Europe.
    • The Battle of Bordeaux wipes out the Partisans and German units.
    • Italian forces in Albania with Luftwaffe support destroy English armored units coming from Greece.
    • German forces break the Partisan encirclement in Albania, freeing Italian Air Assets.
  7. Winter 1943
    • Combined English and British forces attempt to land and reinforce the European Invasion and are forced to turn back at the threat the German Surface fleet that finally makes an appearance.
    • Russian’s forces continue to attempt to catch up to German forces retreat on the Eastern Front.
    • Germans’ forces on the western forces smash the bulge of the English Infantry north of Sedan.
    • Italian and German forces half-heartedly attempt to attrite the British and Russians units in the Balkans.
  8. Spring 1944
    • The years starts with American Armored forces landing in Bremen. They used American airborne units to force out German Naval units from Bremen before landing with armor.
    • The tanks then blitz to Berlin, and the war was finally over...

Post Mortem

Considering that only two of the five players had played the game before, I would say that it was a good game, and everyone enjoyed themselves. This game is definitely not for the faint of heart, due to the time requirements.

Thanks everyone for making the game a success.