Week 1 is in the books for Warlord Games’ ambitious, global campaing. Let’s take a look at the results and the upcoming mission briefings.
The first week of Operation Critical Hit saw progress made by sides in different theaters, with a slight overall edge going to the Allies. The Axis forces advanced on the Eastern Front and in the Pacific, but lost ground in the Mediterranean and were put to route in Western Europe, where the results were 88% in favor the Allies. Results are updated on Warlord’s website every hour, so these numbers have already changed, but the Axis have their work cut out for them if they want to turn things around.
Taking a look at the theater maps we can see what progress was actually made on each map. In Western Europe the Allies have land and sea operations well in hand, with the only Axis gains coming in a single sector where the Luftwaffe was able to gain victory. The Mediterranean is still anybody’s to win, with the most indecisive results out of the four theaters. Allied air and ground forces were able to hold their own in the Pacific, but the Japanese Imperial Navy won a truly impressive number of victories over the United States navy to secure Axis control of the seas. Even more one sided were Axis victories on the Eastern Front, where Russian ground forces were utterly routed and only minimal successes were made on the sea and in the air
With that, let’s take a look at the mission briefings for week 2! For Bolt Action players are required to play the Sectors scenario, found on page 148 of the Bolt Action Second Edition rulebook. Victory at Sea scenarios will be played with the Attrition vs Fighting Retreat parameters found on pages 54-55 of the War at Sea generator. Lastly, Blood Red Skies games will be played using the Frontlines engagement from page 68 of Air Strike! Furthermore, Since the Allies take their advantage into week two, Allied Blood Red Skies players can add the Restricted Airfields card into their hand, in addition to any cards otherwise permitted.
New hexes are also in play this week, as pictured above. A side must have more overall victories (land, sea and air!) in order to claim victory for the week in a given sector. The side that achieves more victories overall in week two will secure a bonus for Bolt Action players going into week 3. The week 3 bonus is a veteran medic, armed with a pistol, that does not count towards point totals, order dice limits, and is “above and beyond any other medics taken.” Not bad!
Have you been participating in Operation Critical Hit? Tell us your war stories in the comments!
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