Sept/Oct 1939: The conflagration begins. The Poles defend by stopping the lead elements of the Wehrmacht, and the strategy is partially successful. Warsaw falls but the Germans cannot reach Lodz. The Italians peacefully reinforce their border with France. Japan attacks in northern China, successfully taking the city of Chengchow, but a few ne’er-do-wells run amok, causing outrage in the American press.
  Impulse #2: France and the CW declare war on Germany. The CW take a naval and set up with the BEF ready to land on the continent. The French take daring action, sending their SUBs into the Baltic to raid the German convoy lines there. They successfully abort 3 of the 4 CONV there, but sink none (and suffer no losses). The Soviets build up on the border of Iran, but at the cost of leaving Siberia under-defended. China snakes a DIV forward to seize Hangchow but otherwise holds the line.
  Impulse #3: The Germans declare war on Denmark for pro-Allied sentiment. Surprisingly, a CA with a DIV sneaks out and seizes Iceland. The main part of Denmark is overrun. Lodz is assaulted and taken without loss. Troops start to head west. Italy deposits corps in Libya. Japan tries to avert the obvious plan by the Soviets to invade Iran and declares war on the USSR. MARs off the coast invade Vladivostock, taking the city with loss. Japanese elements in the north take two RES and cut off a Siberian INF corps.  Japan kills the DIV in Hangchow, but again the American press is outraged about the battle. 
  Impulse #4: The Soviets oddly declare war on the Netherlands, but it appears this is a part of the nefarious Molotov-Ribbentrop II pact with Germany. Has Europe been sold out?! The French bring the Moroccan corps to southern France and the CW land Gort and a MECH in northern France. The Soviets do indeed also declare war on Iran and push to assault Tehran. The Japanese warned them that the divine wind was against them, and so it was. The +6 assault is a bloody affair, with the Soviets losing 3 units, although the defenders do all die. One lone CAV remains to take the capital before the end of the turn. Strangely, US entry is quite advanced in the Japanese pool, but Soviet aggression has pushed the European pool back to nothing. 
  Impulse #5:  The weather remains decent, but the Germans… take a naval?! They do. A raiding party slips past the pickets in the North Sea and raids the North Atlantic convoys, taking 4 CONV. A SUB also raids but finds no targets. The Baltic convoys are re-established for the Germans. The French subs there try but fail to inflict more damage. Italy quietly bides its time. Japan shifts forces in Siberia, but not a lot happens.
  Impulse #6: The Soviets shockingly invoke a part of M_R II Pact and declare war on Belgium, which causes the Belgians to align with Germany. Granthill and DeHarris are outraged. France re-arranges its line while the CW shifts to defend its convoy lines, but no naval combat actually occurs. China holds the line.
  Impulse #7: The weather turns nasty (worst possible roll) and the Germans curse their weather luck, poised at the precipice of a breakthrough… which now grinds to a halt, allowing the French to adapt to the new situation. The Germans make no attacks, just shift forces from Poland towards France. Italy loves peace. Japan also has a quiet turn.
  Impulse #8: In the bad weather, mostly nothing happens. The Soviets commit hard to the war with Japan, sending both of their HQs east along with a fair bit of their other land forces. The CW continues to work on its naval arrangements and France finalizes its front with Germany.
  Impulse #9: The turn does not end, but the weather gets worse (’12’ on the modified roll). The Germans stare glumly at the sky and their bogged down panzers. No attacks occurs, the Wehrmacht limps its forces slightly closer to the French front. Italy enjoys peace and harmony. Japan makes minor shifts. The turn then ends.
  The Axis are a bit unfortunate, with 2 PARTs appearing in China in inconvenient places.  With the war with Russia, Japanese land units are at a premium. Iran is conquered by the Soviets, Poland and Denmark are conquered by Germany.

Nov/Dec 1939: The Axis win initiative and the weather… continues to be abysmal. Nonetheless, the Italians decide that they have had enough of British posturing and aggression, and declare war on the UK (only). A bold DIV invades the undefended Port Said, scattering the British fleet there. The surprise invasion was unlucky (only the Warspite was sunk in the surprise, statistically way less than should have been lost given the 8 ships there), but the fleet had to run out of port… into the waiting Italian NAV, which proceeded to wreak havoc. In the escape, the CW lost the CV Glorious, BB Malaya, and the CA Shropshire sunk. In raiding elsewhere, the Italians took 2 CONV. The Germans decide they cannot wait, and despite the snow, attack the French line in the center. The French airforce does its job, clearing defending TAC, so the resulting attack is +4. The Germans perform well, considering (1/R) losing a valuable ARM DIV but take the hex. The Japan regroup and kill both of the PART in China and slowly look to move troops northward into Manchuria and Siberia.
  Impulse #2: The Soviets declare war on Norway, again invoking this mysterious pact. Norway gleefully joins the Axis and pledges to annex Scotland. The Soviets push their growing Siberian army towards the Manchurian border. The Chinese launch a daring +4 assault, which succeeds in the taking the hex at some cost (2/1). The CW eliminate the Italian DIV in Port Said, but the Suez Canal damage remains. The French contemplate a counter-attack, but the poor weather dissuades them of the move. Strategic bombing takes 1 BP from Nuremberg.
  Impulse #3: The weather stays poor, confounding Axis efforts. The Germans again basically launch everything they have and only manage a +6 blitz, but it is more successful, taking the Ardennes forest hex (-/B). The Italians push from Libya into Egypt. The Japanese slowly maneuver in Siberia.
  Impulse #4: The Soviets attack and kill the Japanese CAV near Chita, clearing the way to northern Manchuria along that rail line. The other line flips forwards further east. The Chinese hold the line. The CW takes a combined action and shifts a few CONV and improves convoy defense. The French adjust to cover the gap made by the German attack and they retain a solid line.
  Impulse #5: The Germans again take a naval! Again the SUBs are unsuccessful, but a raiding fleet–bolstered by some Dutch and Belgian forces, hit the Bay of Biscay. The Axis surprise the CW, sinking the Argus with all hands and taking 2 CONV. The Belgian cruiser is damaged before the Axis fleets aborts home, happy with the small win. The Italians shift forces by sealift to Libya and Egypt. The Japanese continue to do small movements to form a line in Manchuria.
  Impulse #6: The Soviets try to raid with their one remaining SUB in the Pacific before the admiral is reminded that the port is ice-in in the bad weather. So the Soviets grind forward into Manchuria instead. The CW abandon the French, completing movement of the BEF to Bayonne–far behind the lines. The French decide to fight on. The turn then ends.
  Once again, the Japanese are unfortunate, taking 2 more PARTs in China. Partisans seize Shang-hai and Hainan. Italy conquers British Somilialand. 

J/F 1940: The Axis win initiative and go first. The Germans attack in France despite yet more bad weather, taking a hex with a loss (1/B). The Wehrmacht is advancing, but the French are exacting a toll. The Italians have a brilliant opportunity in Egypt, but the +10 blitz in the desert is poorly executed and they only retreat the Brits into Alexandria. The Japanese invade and retake Hainan from the Chinese PART there.
  Impulse #2: The CW pull the BEF out of Bayonne and spread to defend their convoy line, which is now partially repaired. The French decide to pull back from the front line and do the ‘Paris huddle,’ hoping the poor weather will continue to hamper the Germans. The Soviets lurch forward another hex or two in Siberia.
  Impulse #3: The weather slightly clears (muddy in the temperate) and the Germans decide to unleash the panzers. A +12 attack north of Paris takes a hex (but fails to kill any French units…) and a +12 assault on Metz succeeds without loss. A large hole now exists in the French line! Meanwhile, in Egypt the Italians launch a daring +11 blitz in the desert, successfully flanking Wavell in Alexandria. The British in the desert are out of supply, but hold Alexandria. The Japanese suddenly start behaving oddly in Manchuria, pulling back from the line in the north with the Soviets.
  Impulse #4: The Allies have a quiet turn. The French move to defend the flanks of Paris. The CW takes a land to send units to defend Cairo now that the Italians have flanked Wavell. The Soviets oddly do not press their advantage from the Japanese moves and voluntarily (?!) abandon a RES hex. Smells like a dirty deal. The Chinese hold the line, but reinforce Si-an.
  Impulse #5: The Germans–in the snow–kill a GAR south of Paris, fully opening the southern flank of the French lines. Otherwise the turn is mostly just positioning. Italy assaults Alexandria on a +11 assault, killing two units and retreating Wavell, out of supply, to the NE. Egypt looks doomed to fall, but the CW have a TER and Div protecting Cairo. The Japanese again continue to move south, away from the Soviet front.
  Impulse #6: The Allies pass and successfully end the turn.
  A PART appears in Manchuria, occupies Mukden, and deprives the Japanese of 2 BPs. It was ‘only’ a 10% chance, but the loss is keenly felt. No other PARTs appear. Italy conquers Sudan and French Somalialand. Sure enough, the Japanese and Soviets come to peace, with the Japanese receiving Vladivostok, some RES hexes, and a liberated Iran. There are apparently provisions protecting the USSR from Axis liberation efforts through Iran, however. Why would Grabahito betray the cause?  

M/A 1940: The Axis win initiative and the weather… what?! … starts clear. The Wehrmacht rejoices. Yet the results are mixed. In a +13 blitz the Germans perform poorly (1/B), costing them a MOT. A +10 blitz further south is successful. The Germans now have 3 hexes on Paris, however. Rundstedt reorganizes the German line. Italy cleans up Wavell, eliminating the corps in an automatic attack and otherwise pushes towards Cairo.
  Impulse #2: The CW navalize and protect their convoys, which now has been repaired around Africa and includes additional convoys across the Atlantic for added resources from S. America. The French contemplate a counterattack, but the odds are poor and they elect to defend. The USSR starts pulling back themselves from Manchuria. Units appear on the border of Finland. Is there no limit to Soviet aggression?
  Impulse #3: Surprisingly, the weather remains clear. The Germans assault Paris with a PARA drop and take the city on a +16 assault. The Italians assault Cairo and take the city on a +16 attack themselves. The Japanese shift their attention to China, moving units to central and southern China. The PART in Mukden is eliminated.
  Impulse #4: The Allies are quiet. China holds the line. The CW takes a combined and uses it to reinforce Belfast. The Soviets send more units to the Polish frontier, the Romanian frontier, and the Finnish frontier. When will the Allies see who the real threat is?
  Impulse #5: The Japanese take a +12 assault in China that is a painful victory (2/1, but take a critical hex). The Chinese line in the south is now over-extended. The Germans filter forces forward into France towards the coasts, isolating the remaining French operational force south of Paris. On the combined, the navy sails out and sinks a CW cruiser at the cost of the Deutschland being damaged. Not CONV are sunk, however. The Italians push across Egypt and into Palestine.
  Impulse #6:  More the same. The French have no avenue to retake Paris and thus try to hold a line to prevent conquest. The CW shift forces back to England, essentially conceding Egypt to the Axis. The Soviets continue their slow shift of forces. China pulls back slightly in the south.
  Impulse #7: Germany takes a land and extends forces towards Brest and Bordeaux. A stockpile of French buildpoints beckon, saved to try and put DeGaulle on the production spiral. The Italians push added corps into Jordan. The Japanese use their forward position to attack, and clear a hex without loss on a +10 assault… taking Chang-Sha! Their forces are also well-behaved; all atrocities were done away from the press.
  Impulse #8: All the Allies pass except China, who pulls back to save their line. The turn, however, does not end.
  Impulse #9: The weather turns bad (wintery in the temperate), but it is enough for the Germans to seize the BPs in France. Italy activates Iraq as a minor ally. Japan pushes its army forward, stretched as it is. Germany pushes its Belgian ally to take Rhodesia. The turn then ends.
  No PARTs appear (shockingly). Italy conquers Egypt, Germany conquers Rhodesia. Germany declares a Vichy France, with the Asian, Pacific, and Equatorial areas going Free. The new capital is moved to New Caledonia.

May/June 1940: The Allies win initiative and the weather starts clear (except in the monsoon zone). China takes the initiative to pull back to a stronger mountain side running south from Si-an. The CW navalizes, including placing naval and some DIVs off the coast of the NEI. Convoys are protected. The USSR withdraws further from Siberia and piles up units in Europe from Finland to Rumania.
  Impulse #2: Japan occupies Indo-China and pushes a unit north from Hanoi. The US is upset at the action, but otherwise no one seems to care much. The Germans take a land and push units to the coasts in France. Italy takes a naval and tries to hit CW convoys, but only manages to take 1 CONV despite 4 attacks. 
  Impulse #3: The weather sadly turns rainy and gloomy…. As a result, not much happens in the rain and storms (in the temperate). The British send cruisers with DIVs to the Pacific where they threaten to invade the NEI, but poor weather prevents any action. The Soviets build up on the Finnish border, probably to oppress another poor people. Europe clearly needs a hero. China struggles to hold a line in the south and many of its units are out of supply and flipped as they try to find a defensive line.
  Impulse #4. The Iraqis march into Kuwait as Italian troops march across the Iraqi desert towards Iran and Saudi Arabia. The Germans position troops on the coasts in France and build up near the Spanish border. The Japanese push forward a key hex in China, but must flip to do so. Nonetheless, the Chinese line is in trouble as Japan is next to an undefended Chungking (but its unit is face-down).
  Impulse #5: The weather is spectacularly clear. The Brits manage to get CONV out to the new RES in S. America, bolstering their convoy routes. The Soviets shift most of the rest of their airforce to the area around Leningrad. The Chinese are mostly flipped, so they hope to go first next impulse.
  Shockingly, the turn ends at its earliest possibility. Another Chinese PART appears, but does not do any mischief. The US embargoes the Japanese. The Germans whine about the short turn.

July/August 1940: The Axis win initiative despite the hopes of the Allies. Japan starts by marching into an undefended Chungking, simultaneously seizing the Chinese oil reserves.  The news is not entirely good as a strong +9 assault on Si-an and Mao fails (2/1). The Italians take a naval and go CONV hunting plus set up with sizable fleets in the Med. The hunting goes poorly, with only 1 CONV taken across 5 opportunities. The Germans take a combined and send NAV and light forces to attack the N. Sea and the Bay of Biscay, but nothing comes of it. Strategic bombing in England goes poorly, with the Germans losing 2 FTRs despite flying at major advantage. No damage is done to the British economy.
  Impulse #2: The UK strategically bombs Germany, but fails to find their targets. Convoys are defended in force, including the Bay of Biscay, but disaster strikes. German and Italian NAV find the British there, and over 4 rounds of combat, 10 CONV are lost and 3 CW carriers are damaged. The Chinese are in panic mode, trying to reform a line. the Soviets continue their buildup. 
  Impulse #3: The Japanese attack a southern resource in China as the weather is unexpectedly clear in the monsoon zone. The attack succeeds without loss and the Japanese consolidate their position. Peacekeeping force occupy critical oil hexes in the NEI. The Germans collapse Vichy (irritating the US) and send forces into Tunisia, Algeria, and Syria. Spending 4 chit points, the Germans also send out an invasion fleet into the North Sea! A daring invasion is made into London, which succeeds after some groundstriking and air combat, on a rolled ’14’.  The citizens of London hold a parade to commemorate the event. The US, however, is positively outraged (+2 chits), although no one can understand why.
  Impulse #4: The Soviets declare war on Finland. Such unbridled aggression has not been seen for… at least a turn. The Soviets launch a clever surprise invasion into southern Finland, killing a FTR and isolating the Finn front line. The Soviets under Zhukov then blitz forward removing the front line without loss.  The CW take a land and organize a defense in England centered around Coventry, but they have not the forces at hand to repel the Germans. 
  Impulse #5: Japan activate Siam as a minor ally (no entry) and pushes units slowly forward in China. The Italians invade Cyprus and roll a corps into Syria. The Germans spend more chit points to use TRS to convoy corps into England. They attack and kill a flipped MIL in Dover without loss. The Finns counter-attack, killing a SKI unit in the far north and the INF DIV in southern Finland. German units streak across Algeria.
  Impulse #6: The USSR claims Bessarabia. The Germans accede to the Soviet demands and allow the claims of Hungary and Bulgaria next impulse. Clearly the Soviets have no limits to their thirst for power. Calls for the Germans to check the communists rise across Europe. The CW repositions naval units in the Pacific and pulls back a southern force in the UK to Portsmouth, defending a fleet in port there. A TRS sneaks out to pull a unit from Scapa Flow to reinforce central England.
  Impulse 7: The Germans activate Hungary (no US penalty) and mass for a +12 assault on Coventry. The attack is a mixed success (1/2S), killing Gort and taking the city, but their units are half-flipped with a casualty. Fortunately the move takes a RES and cuts off the another one; with the CW convoy lines in shambles, the Brits will take a production hit this turn. Germans units move towards Yugoslavia, into Hungary. The Japanese slowly move units to the front in China, and consolidate their gains. Italy picks off 2 CONV in the Indian Ocean.
  Impulse #8: The Soviets push forward and attack Mannerheim to the east of Helsinki. The Finns fight bravely, but lose the hex (2/1). Soviet casualties are mounting, but their overwhelming strength is too much for the poor Finns. The CW reposition two units into central England to hold the line there.  China hopes for the best, lacking oil and resources.
  Impulse #9: Germany activate Bulgaria as an ally, as the world starts to wake up to the Soviet threat to peace and prosperity. The US understands (no penalty). The reinforced CW line in central England prevents Germans attacks. The Italians push forces along the S. Arabian border with Iraq. Japan has a quiet turn adjusting his Chinese lines.
  Impulse #10. The Allies except for the CW pass. The CW tweaks its line and then turn sadly comes to an end. No PARTS appear. The US sends resources to Western Allies. 

Sept/Oct 1940: The Axis win initiative. 

…turn in progress