Campaign for North Africa Slurp-fest !

[dlazov]

Due to space limitations and with all my board games in storage, I have been using VASSAL for most games and VASL for ASL.

However I have been working with some folks on an electronic Europa system.



This is from the Enter Rommel scenario. The program keeps track of movement points, AECA/AECD/ATEC, engineering ratios, air combat, ground combat etc.

Its pretty neat.

 

[Marshal Lannes]

I think vassal is a good idea......but you can never beat the sheer scale and impression of a huge map board-game. I am happy that I have the space now.....without having to use the dining room table...........and I find that you get more intimate with your units/forces when you have to pick them up and place them; there is some kind of neural link in this process between your fingers and brain which is lacking in using a mouse pointer and aids in remembering stuff rather than quick mouse pointer clicking.............it would be a good idea to shove the Europa Russian front on vassal system. .

 

[Marshal Lannes]

"SSsssshh !"...............Top Secret Communique........Beep !.......Coded transmissions have been intercepted between Decision Games and the Fuhrer-Bunker.....Beep!. ...........decipherment has been difficult and from what can be pieced together from said transmissions.......Beep !..........our intelligence operatives have managed to decode that the announcement of the date of release is imminent...... Beep !.......This information is classified and if you spread it; I will deny everything.....plausible deniability.....Beep !.....

DO NOT FORGET TO BUY YOUR WAR BONDS !.....

My feeling about this is that it has been too long a wait and my enthusiasm has waned in proportion.......this may change if it is a viable and fantastic piece of work ; like Atlantic Wall but even with computer admin aids in play - it may still be a Sand Dune Too Far......Beep ! ................................... End of Transmission......... .

 

[dlazov]

View attachment 29706

"SSsssshh !"...............Top Secret Communique........Beep !.......Coded transmissions have been intercepted between Decision Games and the Fuhrer-Bunker.....Beep!. ...........decipherment has been difficult and from what can be pieced together from said transmissions.......Beep !..........our intelligence operatives have managed to decode that the announcement of the date of release is imminent...... Beep !.......This information is classified and if you spread it; I will deny everything.....plausible deniability.....Beep !.....

DO NOT FORGET TO BUY YOUR WAR BONDS !.....

My feeling about this is that it has been too long a wait and my enthusiasm has waned in proportion.......this may change if it is a viable and fantastic piece of work ; like Atlantic Wall but even with computer admin aids in play - it may still be a Sand Dune Too Far......Beep ! ................................... End of Transmission......... .

Pity DG is reworking it, it won’t be the same, as the original, DG track record sucks on these rehashes.

 

[Marshal Lannes]

Pity DG is reworking it, it won’t be the same, as the original, DG track record sucks on these rehashes.

I think with this one; the expectation will be too high; as the original has almost legendary status, so they will fail to a fair degree, whether they like it or not. Better that they have a GO !......I give them points for that. .

 

[Marshal Lannes]

Early this morning, 16th December, 80 years ago; the last desperate offensive of the Wehrmacht was launched against a thin and surprised American defence in Belgium.............................the " Wacht am Rhein ".

Lots of fun was had as a teen with the original SPI Version, ( perhaps not so, for my nail-biting American side opponent ), for some reason my favourite unit was the 3rd Fallschirmjager Division and this drama and learning experience has continued with the WDS PC game and eventually with the updated Decision games version which stands proud on my shelf next to Atlantic Wall.

To my mind - you are only a true board wargamer if you have the triumvirate, which is - 1.Bulge , 2.Waterloo and 3.Gettysburg.......... .



and here's the Christmas squirrel version. .........................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Bought some,........some................,some chrit, ................chrisssmussmuss booze. ........ today...................bit urly .........jus won ltttle drink..............jus had one glass.........celibate.........No ! .....No ! ' ........Noooooooooooo !!! ............celebrate Bulgey asnd................... kissmass.............................that's rite............Kissmuss ...................celibutt kisssmuss......................................Urghh! .... .

" General Macauliffe sounds like my sort of guy ! ".. ...............Hic ! .

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" A guud driiink and book on...... Bulgeey ........are....................... all you neeeed for............ kissmuss ! " Hic ! .

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This map was perused and fought over more times than I care to mention. A dream ticket game at one stage but has been overshadowed and superceded by the new, superior Decision Games version which has a spectacular map.

Relegated to the Hall of Memory....................along with SPI's Wellington's Victory. The Initiation games...........they were ........................Good stuff ! Oh , Oh ! I am getting a bit melancholic...............that means, time for another drink........or maybe two, .................... .

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................................................................................................................................................That's done the trick..........Hic ! ...................................................................................................



Attack on the Schnee Eiffel Highway

Loaded up the " Bulge " - look at all that lovely artillery supporting the two German Divisions ; four full stacks of rocket launchers. If only that was available everywhere.

Must remember to update and mod the bridges.............. .

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Von Lauchert's 2nd Panzer within spitting distance of Clervaux....... . ( End of GT .7. )

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[Marshal Lannes]

Battle of the Bulge - Situation at end of Game Turn 7 - 16th December - German ( Human player ) vs ( Allied A.I. ) - No advantage slider...... Can you do better ? .

 

[dlazov]

Just to give some folks some context, this is the 162 turn scenario as the Germans.

A zoomed in view.

 

[dlazov]

Another game I have been enjoying lately (its very old school but at 7.5 km per hex and mostly divisional level (NA scenarios and Norway have regiments) its quite fun (once you get over how the UI works).

High Level view:

Mid Level view:

Low Level view:

 

[Marshal Lannes]

WDS - Battle of the Bulge - #16-14s - Herbstnebel Scenario ( 198 turns - Company level ). Situation at end of Game Turn 8. 9.00pm - 16th December. ( German - Human vs Allies A.I. - no advantage slider).


First thing to note is that American loss is half that of the same time period in the battalion level game with some company breakdown for the Germans. That means that the A.I. is performing better in this total company treatment of the battle.
I am aware that I am playing more cautiously as it is my first time; so you can add about 15 - 20% loss rate for both sides which is still markedly less than the battalion level game.

Interesting that the paratroop drop of Von der Heydt behind enemy lines north of Malmedy has a headquarters unit and 7 indivuvidual unit counters rather than 4 in other scenarios.

Still too early to see if this is a much harder task for the Germans until the end of day 3. Hopefully , the Northern shoulder will not break as easily as it does in battalion level scenarios.

Nightmare amount of units to move but the small unit actions seem to be a lot more imteresting as a 4th company of heavy weapons in German battalions is individually delineated.

There was a stupid move by the American A.I. to abandon Monschau without a fight for a German engineer company to walk in and some abandonment of American improved positions but difficult to blame totally by intuitive retreating.

There is a surprising level of sneakiness in wherein on numerous occasions, a single American unit has retreated and then on moving forward with the same , you find yourself facing a larger force...........and units where you think they are per se the battalion level game ,have been somewhat rearranged.................

Overall; very interesting and definitely more involving than the battalion level scenarios..................................................... .

 

[Marshal Lannes]

Battle of the Bulge - Herbstnebel Scenario. ( continued ).

I have reached the early morning hours of 19th December in the Herbst scenario - Company level game. The good news is that losses in men are somewhat even but in materiel ; there is a significant difference in favor of the Germans at this point.

The Northern shoulder of the Bulge stretching north of Monschau has seen little activity/fighting, which is good. I was thinking that the stupid A.I . would be launching massive attacks here, early on in the game; which would be historically inaccurate.

The Southern shoulder plays almost identically to other Bulge scenarios but with the US forces being a bit more frontage enabled/oriented rather than in battalion/company level scenarios, wherein they are for the most part in isolated pockets and the Germans are easily able to methoidically surround isolated groups of yanks and finish them off in succession. There are some interesting US counterattacks here and not to do a spoiler ; the American tank units are plentiful but not that intimidating in reality. I was disappointed that Diekirch fell too easily. It takes longer in battalion/company level scenarios.

In the center - the 5th Panzer Army will encounter some interesting A.I tactics which do not occur in other battalion/company scenarios. There are some surprises as to American defensive unit deployment. I am pleasantly surprised at the tenacity of some isolated American company units which get bypassed and are a pain in the butt to whittle down. Getting bridging engineers to the right spot quickly is an art form.; when you can find them amongst the hordes.

The road to Malmedy for the Germans is basically the same as battalion/company level scenarios albeit with some surprises. The battalion/ company scenarios have almost a clear road after the Germans you take the Bullingen village.......again; no spoilers....you may or may not encounter more resistance. The defence of the Elsenborn ridge has yet to be tested.

As mentioned before; there are a hell of a lot of units to move and the traffic jams and inter mingling of units is a constant yet historically accurate pain.

Getting on top of your artillery and who and what they can support is mildly tedious and I am not a fan of the German heavy weapons company attached to infantry battalions, as they can only fire twice unlike their pure infantry company cousins, who can fire three times. You have to uncheck the unit to fire the rest of the stack - A minor niggle. It took me a while also to work out that the heavy weapons units can fire two hexes.

Overall - I am sold on this Battle of the Bulge scenario and will in future only play this one, as it recreates a bit more satisfyingly complex and detailed treatment of the battle.

" Es ist Gut -Ja ! "...

I have to pinch myself not to open up the American force deployment to have a proper looksee as to whether the A.I. is performing well but that obviously makes for cheating.......................a case of so far, so good..............Nevertheless : I will be restarting this battle scenario and playing it properly/ correctly.....this has been a tester experience.

( Addendum - I also had no snowy conditions for all of 17th and 18th December - so will have to go for historical weather in future ). .

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Oh ! I forgot to mention that there is some nasty Allied Air Interdiction of German re-inforcements a la Panzer Campaigns Normandy style.

Not very nice................................................................not very nice at all. .

 

[Marshal Lannes]

SPI Wargame Resources - hosting SPI Fest with Historicon.................. 16th -20th July 2025 - Lancaster Pennysylvania.

War In Europe/ GBACW including Terrible Swift Sword/ Invasion America /Wellington's Victory etc ,etc.

" Old Monsters never die !......" ......" Raaar ! " .

Had a quick look at my wargame shelf - the only SPI soapbox game I have is War between the States. Apart from that; 7 or 8 Strategy & Tactics magazine games. Terrible Swift Sword has been super-ceded by On Hallowed Ground ( the Gamers ), which has 5 large maps and 4 days of the Gettysburg battle; rather than 3. I am loathe to play it as it is Mint and unpunched. Dammit ! .

 

[Marshal Lannes]

War in the Pacific - Decision Games ( 2nd Edition ) has an extension kit which adds extra rules and two minor island maps with 5 counter- sheets for a total of 1400 counters ; which when added to the original 9100-9300 counters puts it well over 10,000 counters.

Check out yooootub on Tuesday 9th with Aardwulf's lair video of,...................... " What is a Monster Wargame ? ".

Anything with two 22" - 34" maps and close to or more than 1000 counters does it for me, regardless of rules complexity.

WiTP can now be classified as " Godzilla's Pa "...... .

 

[Marshal Lannes]

Decision Games - Highway to the Reich - top two map sheets for the 1st Airborne and 101st Airborne landings.

This is the second game I bought after Wacht Am Rhein. Still not played.....I take it out occasionally and set it up and then put it away again..... " A Game too Far ! ".

Really want to see how this version plays compared to the old SPI game. Really like the map artwork; especially the fact that it has a lot of hexes with snall amount of woods which give it a more realistic feel rather than huge blotches with clear hexes with nothing. Reading the rulebook a while back, I remember that the defender can opt to use tree/cover in the case of having a hex with a smattering of green, and therefore have the defensive benefit. Makes sense that in a mostly clear hex/terrain, defenders would use a few bushes or trees for cover. .

My only criticism is that the northern map-sheet should be 10 to 12 hexes longer above Arnhem - I could be wrong but I prefer more flanking space...

Very Niiiiice................ .

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The bottom two map-sheets showing the 82nd Airborne landing area of Eindhoven. There is a rcanal just immediately below the XXX Corps small lettering which is difficult to make out because it is so far away from my crappy camera, ( just proves how long these two maps are ) ; the XXX Corps start position is there.

The map-sheets are vertical , so it is a hell of a long way to exit the northern map edge and then some more distance to get to Nijmegen. .

Only at the Company/troop level scale can you truly feel the enormity of the task facing you as the Allied Commander. and that makes for a good simulation..........the primary reason why I have no interest in the newish Battalion/company level treatment of the new Goss system game.

Note to self - get a C47 Dakota transport plane model for atmospherics.........................Xmas list. .

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" I cannot fully guarantee that the radios will work effectively but you have my word, that there will be plentiful tea available ! ". .

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You can get the updated rules Ver.2 ( 2024 ) at the Geek and possibly some errata counters. I probably have this already along with a pile of other stuff which will be found somewhere in the ether; mis labelled no doubt. .

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[Marshal Lannes]

A nice amount of counters for the British 1st Airborne Division. They could have been lazy and had Gen.Sosabowski's Polish Parachute Brigade as the same color but they are crimson red, ( bottom row ).

The four face silhouetted leader counters are a nice touch and this is continued with American and German commanders of note. There is also good variation in the strength, effectiveness and morale numbers of individual unit counters. Uniformity is also a sign of laziness.

Seven bridges to take ( intact ) and control........ .

 

[dlazov]

There is an excellent VASSAL module for this. I have not played the DG version, been 40 years since I really touched the SPI version. Folks say the GOSS is super complicated.

 

[Marshal Lannes]

Super complicated = very detailed .

 

[Marshal Lannes]

" All is quiet on the western front ". Netherlands/Belgium border.

The German defence along the Meuse Escaut Canal.

On the left of the main road are roughly one regiment worth of fallschirmjager; in the middle, a composite infantry battalion ; there is a pen on the counter which I don't know what it means, maybe, pensionable age . IOn the right, Heincke's Kampfgruppen of the 10SS Panzer Division; only about a regiment worth of troops supported by another fallschirmjager battalion.

The good news is that the majority of German defenders are entrenched and have some village/wood defence capability on the flanks of the Allied advance but the composite infantry battalion, ( center ), is very exposed. There are also a good amount of anti-tank guns dispersed.

The bad news is that there is only one 10SS self-propelled artillery unit of 3 guns to support the entire defence. Two puny tank platoon units do not excite the senses either.

" Hallo, Hallo ! - I need reinforcements........Now !.... Was, Was ! .............I was promised support guns a week ago ! "; ................." Where are they ??? " . Hallo ! ". .

 

[Marshal Lannes]

A big improvement, apart from the maps and counters, compared to the original SPI version ,is the inclusion of Operational ( hidden ), off-map movement for the German player. Deciding when and where to deploy forces takes the game into a variant of wider possibilities and operational decision making.

 

[Marshal Lannes]

Holy Moly - tanks everywhere - just set up Vandeleur's British Guards Armoured Division start positions on the map. You can see about 40% of it in the picture , ( mostly stacked 4 and 5 deep ). There are 3 battalions of 7 deep counters north of the Meuse Escaut Canal belonging to the 231st Brigade of the 50th Infantry Division.

Good job that there are coloured bands on the counters; helps a lot with formation identification..........lot of sub groups.





" We can't afford to drop behind schedule; ..................keep the tanks on the move...............we have to be in Arnhem within 48 hours ! ".

" It will take me two days just to get all my Armoured Division counters over the Meuse Escaut Canal bridge ! ". .



Airborne Divisions are on their way from England ...............Roger Dodger......................................................................

Apparently ; you can choose a Northern or Southern flight path and deal with flak and weather conditions. .