Dear all,
John and I started a short 1941 scenario playtest of some prototype rules. We tested the following:
- land forces may non-combat move into any adjacent empty space, regardles of who owns it (though this rule does not affect any air or naval transportation of units)
- naval "return" combat results end a unit's participation in a battle, just as air "returns" knock air units out of a battle.
- all battles - air, land and sea, have a maximum 4-combat round limit.
Our Spring 41 turn - me as Axis, John as Allies - was a lot of fun.
The rules worked REALLY well.
- the new NCM forced us to screen a lot of areas with infantry. We maintained contiguous front lines, and generally it felt "right". Let's see how it handles the coming summer double-mech move,
- the naval combat was GREAT (I launched a big Italian-on Royal Navy attack, on a whim and got my ass kicked). The battle was much cleaner, simpler and easier to follow. My superior numbers looked like they might turn the battle my way, but Cunningham's re-rolls turned it around for John. We'll keep testing.
- the time limit on battles was not really much of a factor in the Barbarossa battles as John weas getting out of dodge as soon as possible to salvage troops. But I did an impromptu two-division Falschirmjaeger drop on Athens that became a real nail-biter, in part due to the 4-turn limit. Think of it - if I had not destroyed the two Commonwealth divisons in Athens (I did, just!), my paras (as the attackers) would have automatrically been forced to retreat. But as they couldn't physically retreat, they would have been destroyed. An unanticipated side effect of the rule and a good one. Againm we'll keep testing.
In terms of game turn events, here's a quick summary:
WEST:
- John mounts close blockade of Brest to keep my battle cruiser bottled up.
- first major RAF raide on Berlin ends with COMPLETE success for AAA. UK bomber fleet destroyed.
MED:
- Hasty Regia Marina attempt to seize waters off Crete ends with Italian battleship destroyed, two cruisers damaged and sub sunk. Brits take just one cruiser hit.
- Rommel smashes three-division UK force and UK abandons Tobruk.
BALKANS:
- Axis tries to take Balkans at same time as Barbarossa. Slow going. Italians get trounced bt the Serbs.
- Crazy German para drop on Athens succeeds, destroying two UK divisions.
- Italian cruiser cuts off Balkans from reinforcement.
RUSSIA:
- Soviet spoiling attack mauls Romanian army in Bessarabia.
- Nazi tank columns capture Minsk and Zhitomir (very light German armour losses)
- Russian Air Force puts up unusually stout resistance.
- Soviets position major armoured forces far back in Kharkov/Kiev area ahead of summer blitz.
More next week!
British Mike
