Final result

VICTORY FOR THE AXIS!
The first phase of the Flames of War Campaign is now over - with an overwhelming victory to the axis in the Med, and stalemate in the east. It is now August 1943 and the aborted landings in Sicily and the loss of Malta have stabilised that front for the Axis. It will now be a fair while before either side can launch an assault on the other over the sea.

Meanwhile the front has barely moved in Russia. Kursk is still threatened and losses on both sides are high. Russian games will still be included in the campaign until the decisive Battle For Kursk , a multiplayer event I'm hoping to organise soon....

If there is interest I will happily run a new front in the west with another allied invasion sometime soon. Possibly with an early Normandy or another Med invasion - depending on the outcome of the Russian front.

And the overall "winner" of the Flames Of War campaign is the unbeaten JP rather unsurprisingly...

- Duncan

1st August

MALTA CAPTURED BY AXIS
After two weeks intensive fighting Malta has fallen into Axis hands as the last remaining pockets of resistance crumbled. This leaves the Allies in North Africa very exposed and the Axis high command immediately took advantage of this to launch a series of armoured raids in North Africa overnight. The German tanks and special forces tested the defences of the African continent but in the end were stopped by British infantry forces in the area.

RUSSIANS WEAKEN AT KURSK
German forces in the East have pushed on again after defeating the latest Soviet counter attack. Perhaps rallied by the recent demolishion of the Allied invasion of Sicily the Axis forces quickly gained ground in the Russian summer heat and are once again threatening Voronezh. Kursk is holding out - but barely.