With the weather finally improved, in May 1940 the Battle of France commenced. It ran very much to history this time. Germany declared war on the Netherlands and Belgium taking the Allies by surprise. The Ju87's neutralised the defenders in the Low countries, (benefiting from the surprise).
Ground attack rules are simple and effective: You have to roll less than the half ground attack strength (on the button left corner of the bombers) rounded up, but not halved when you have surprise. This does not kill the defender, just disrupts them stopping any counter attack..
The German armour rolled through The Netherlands but the BEF reached Antwerp and Brussels first (fighting the previous war right this time). The French shifted defenders to the west. Note the German attackers have been disrupted by the attack, but general Manstein can flip them back up (flipping himself upside down to show he can do it only once).
The British respond by an air raid on the coal fields of Aachen. The escorting Spitfire manages to down the German interceptors (one of two serious air losses taken by the Germans this turn).
The Germans respond by an assault on Brussels, which hurts them more than it hurt the British. Next round though, they get clever and launch an armoured assault to the east between the BEF and the French with air support and paratroopers. The result was spectacular and unhinged the defence.
The French and British counter-attacked causing significant casualties in the invaders but were unable to the restore the line.
Then the unexpected happened: the turn ended. A turn has a number of impulses and you have to throw higher than the modified impulse rating to continue. To continue past the third impulse you had to not throw a 1 and that is what the Germans did. (It is quite an effective rule in general, as you do not know how far you can push your forces before the turn ends. Too hard and you are susceptible to counter-attack. Not hard enough and some units are unused.) How to interpret this odd event? I suggest that Hitler intervened to attempt to negotiate an early end to the war. The upshot was that the shattered Allies could recover and the French reinf0rcements had time to arrive.
The casualties at this point definitely favoured the allies, with some big units destroyed quite cheaply.
The French production was damaged by the loss of Lille. The Italians and British both got unlucky picks for fighters. This is the implication of the tea cups - you are not sure if what you get out of the factory is useful. Both these units will be scrapped upon production (ensuring they can never get picked again).
The next turn started with the Germans with the upper hand by the Allies able to counter attack. The Germans managed to win the initiative (another good system that means you are not sure who will go first each turn, but you can request a reroll if you have the ascendancy - you pay for it in the following roll. The Germans lost the first roll but went to the video referee and got the second roll.)
The Germans resumed with ground strikes against the Allies followed by an assault on the Rhiems and the Brussels pocket. The air forces where heavily engaged on both sides, but the bombers generally got through. The Germans took Rhiems but Brussels was a bloodbath.
The British responded bravely by landing two more corps in Dunkirk, putting their forces in Brussels back into supply. The French stripped troops of the Maginot line and counter-attacked towards Mons.
The Germans responded with a successful panzer action to Dunkirk and finally the Brussels salient surrendered.
With a ground strike preceding, the Germans finally entered Paris. Ahistorically, the French responded by abandoning the Maginot line and counter attacking. (French must surrender at the end of the turn where Paris falls and their armies mostly disband. In this game, there is no point holding onto the Maginot line in this case, but in reality, many French forts took months to surrender after Paris fell.) The attack caused casualties, but failed to dislodge the Germans.
The Germans stream through France as the turn comes to an end. Italy stays neutral for the present.
Casualties are high, but worth it for the Germans: They get most of the French resources next turn giving them 31 build points compared to British 18, the Soviet 8 and the Italian 4. (The British CV is not a casualty, it is on the resource track.) The Soviets will get more once they mobilise.
During the production phase, the Germans got two lucky draws - an SS Panzer Corp and a Fockwulf fighter squadron. The Russians were unlucky this time. The British had a mixed bag, but the elite Australian Corps will be very helpful in North Africa.
Next issue will be the operations in the Balkans and North Africa.
I am VERY jealous of your space. I am keen to try out my new Custer game, and I can't get the surface area (and this is only a mini game!)
Posted by: Paul | Saturday, 02 May 2015 at 12:45 PM
I think it is the blog that makes it worthwhile. In most cases, the photos are fantastic and it is fun to analyse rules (which is what I often do with new games). As much as anything, it is that I have the space to set them up and come back to them when I have an idle half hour.
Posted by: PythonMagus | Friday, 01 May 2015 at 11:35 AM
I envy that you have the time to set up these games.
Posted by: Paul | Friday, 01 May 2015 at 09:00 AM