Sickle Cut First Play

Previous:
Next:
Tags

Since CC purchased this as his first game back into wargaming, I went ahead and picked it up as well. Production-wise, it's the usual very high quality GMT product.

Game play is substantially more intricate than the previous games we've played, which include Race for Tunis, Bloody Kasserine and a few of similar, rather light complexity. In fact, I've read that some consider Race for Tunis and Bloody Kasserine to be more "beer and pretzels" complexity than not. France '40 is at least 2-3 factors more complex than either of those.

Let's get started with turn order:

Sequence of play

(Turn 1) Provide a broad description of the situation, and some notion of the challenges faced by the Allied and German players. (Remaining turns) Recap the preceding turn, describe challenge for each player in upcoming turn.

German Player Turn

Describe the main challenge to the German player this turn, and one or more potential resolutions to the challenge. Explain the situation with respect to overall goal.

German Initial Phase

Flip all Air units from Used to Ready side.

German Movement Phase

  • German player may move all, some or none of the German units (7.0).
  • Reinforcements enter (19.0).
  • Note Extended Movement (7.3) and EZOC +2 MP penalty (5.2).
  • Compute Automatic DS (10.1, 14.2)

German Combat Phase

German player conducts all attacks (8.0) including Overruns (15.0) and Disengagement Attempts (20.4).

German Recovery Phase

Remove Disruption markers if possible (13.3).

German Supply Phase

  • Check supply status (18.0) for all German units
  • Roll for attrition (18.5) for
    • out of supply units
    • units adjacent to enemy units

GQG Phase (Sickle Cut only)

See Section 21.2

Allied Player Turn

Describe the main challenge to the Allied player this turn, and one or more potential resolutions to the challenge. Explain the situation with respect to overall goal.

Allied Initial Phase

  • Sickle Cut: Flip all non-Disrupted HQ from Used to Ready (17.2.1).
  • Dynamo: Flip all RAF units from Used to Ready (22.6).

Allied Movement Phase

  • Allied player may move all, some or none of the Allied units (7.0).
    • Rail movement ends at least 4 hexes from German, move no more than 15 (7.7).
  • (Turn 1 only) Dyle Line construction.
  • Reinforcements enter (19.0).
  • Note Extended Movement (7.3)

Allied Combat Phase

Allied player conducts all attacks (8.0) including Overruns (15.0) and Disengagement Attempts (20.4).

Allied Recovery Phase

Remove Disruption markers if possible (13.3). When logging game play, summarize the turn for both players here.

Allied Supply Phase

  • Check supply status (18.0) for all Allied units
  • Roll for attrition (18.5) for
    • out of supply units
    • units adjacent to enemy units

End Phase

Move the game turn counter and proceed to next turn.

Turn 1

In the early game, the Germans focus on clearing a way across the Meuse, the Allies (Frech mostly) on preventing the Germans from breaking through. The earlier the Germans can break through, the easier it will be to cross the map to Abbeville and cut the supply lines.

German Player Turn 1

The focus on this turn is understanding the combat system, and learning the various options with respect to the initial German position.

German Initial Phase

Flip all Air units from Used to Ready side.

German Movement Phase

  • German player may move all, some or none of the German units (7.0).
  • Reinforcements enter (19.0).
  • Compute Automatic DS (10.1, 14.2)

Goal is to get across the Meuse as fast as possible. It's very difficult to attack across, because defense is doubled and attacks are halved, which leads to the case where an otherwise 4:1 turns into a 1:1.

German Combat Phase

German player conducts all attacks (8.0) including Overruns (15.0) and Disengagement Attempts (20.4).

Movement to 3 combats:

  1. Sedan: EX result at 4:1, failed to cross. This is going to get really hard as the French reinforce west of Sedan. Will turn into a major slugfest.

  2. North: 4:1 against French heavy armor resulting in retreat.

  3. Between 1 and 2, 4:1 attack with Rommel and we're across the Meuse here. Now to stay in supply.

German Recovery Phase

Remove Disruption markers if possible (13.3).

Nothing to recover.

German Supply Phase

  • Check supply status (18.0) for all German units
  • Roll for attrition (18.5) for
    • out of supply units
    • units adjacent to enemy units

Everything is in supply.

GQG Phase (Sickle Cut only)

See Section 21.2

Not that useful for this turn, but will keep at least one French heavy armor unit one turn further away.

Allied Player Turn 1

March 14, 2015: I've been busy at work, and it's been difficult to muster the amount of energy necessary to properly work through this initial learning game.

This early in the game, the goal is to make the Huns pay as high a cost as possible for advancing, which means falling back slowly in the north, holding fast in the south around Sedan.

Allied Initial Phase

  • Flip all non-Disrupted HQ from Used to Ready (17.2.1).

Allied Movement Phase

  • Allied player may move all, some or none of the Allied units (7.0).
    • Rail movement at least 4, no more than 15 (7.7).
  • (Turn 1 only) Dyle Line construction.
  • Reinforcements enter (19.0).
  • Note Extended Movement (7.3)

Highest priority: reinforce Sedan.

Allied Combat Phase

Allied player conducts all attacks (8.0) including Overruns (15.0) and Disengagement Attempts (20.4).

Didn't engage this turn.

Allied Recovery Phase

Remove Disruption markers if possible (13.3).

Remove disrupted marker.

Allied Supply Phase

End Phase

Move the game turn counter and proceed to next turn.

Turn 2

The situation is tense, with no clear advantage to either combatant. The Germans are held at the Meuse at Sedan, where the French are relatively weak, but have broken through south of Namur, where the French and Belgians are somewhat stronger.

German Player Turn 2

In the south, after getting a bloody nose trying to cross the Meuse at Sedan, the Germans are going to hold Sedan and race north into the Ardennes where the French line is really weak. Provided they can punch through there, the plan is to circle back south and clear out the French around Charleville to open a gaping hole in the French line.

In the north, the situation is not quite so clear. The Dyle line is could be pretty tough to crack, although once cracked, would really put the hurt on the defensive line.

German Initial Phase

Flip all Air units from Used to Ready side.

Five air units ready to rumble.

German Movement Phase

  • German player may move all, some or none of the German units (7.0).
  • Reinforcements enter (19.0).
  • Note Extended Movement (7.3)
  • Compute Automatic DS (10.1, 14.2)

I'm finding it difficult to keep track off all the movement and rules for movement.

In the north, 5th and 7th Pz (with Rommel) go all out to crack the French line southwest of Namur, and to breach the Dyle Line.

Germans in the north

If Inkscape would start, I'd annotate the above image with some remarks about what's going on. Until then, description will have to do.

  • Blunder on French positioning which didn't matter for this game, but is important to note: the 2 DLM armor should be one more hex northwest, on the rail line, to create the hexside bond with the map edge. This does put it in a more exposed position, but it also makes it more difficult for the Germans to get into the north end of the Dyle.

  • 2 Pz and 4 Pz expose another blunder in the Allied set up in Namur. Fortifications don't exert a ZOC unless occupied. Since there are no units occupying the forts on the north side of Namur, these 2 Pz and 4 Pz may well be able to crack the Dyle right here. We'll see how it plays out.

  • 1 Army HQ is more than 7 hexes from French 12 Mech on the Dyle. Teh 12 is not going to get an HQ shift. 1 Army will shift against Rommel's fight against 1 and 4 Cav southeast of Charleroi, but this is probably not as important as holding the Dyle.

  • German extended move error for 28 and 32 Inf, they are not allowed to close on extended move as shown in this image occupying Hex 5206. For game play they got moved back to 5207.

In the Ardennes, the French 32d armor battalion is going to get hammered by 6 Pz and elements of 1 Pz and 10 Pz. There will be an automatic DS result from this movement.

In the south, position mechanized and armor to exploit Ardennes breakthrough, while using infantry divisions to protect supply lines.

German Combat Phase

German player conducts all attacks (8.0) including Overruns (15.0) and Disengagement Attempts (20.4).

As it turns out, the best the Germans can do against 12 Mech is 3:1, which stands a very high chance of hurting the Germans pretty badly if it went into Determined Defense (likely). So, postpone that for a turn. It's not clear whether this whole Dyle line thing is worth breaking or not, but the Germans bring a lot of reinforcements behind it, and it would be nice not to have to run around south of Namur.

Rommel's attack went A1/D1 at 6:1. 1/3 chance of a DS here, bummer. The French are doing well in these fights; the Germans are rolling very poorly.

1 and 10 Pz exploit the DS for a breakthrough and advance well out of the Ardennes.

6 Pz hurt the French 61 Inf with a D1 on 4:1, the resulting bonus (4 hex) advance puts 6 Pz in position to do it again, as 61 Inf is GQG. This also threatens 9 Army HQ, which needs to move.

The situation down at Sedan is just too difficult for the Germans. Best bet is leave enough infantry behind the Meuse to keep the supply lines safe, and get all the armor and mechanized across up in the Ardennes. If necessary, the Germans can swing back around and flank.

German Recovery Phase

Remove Disruption markers if possible (13.3).

No disrupted German units.

German Supply Phase

  • Check supply status (18.0) for all German units
  • Roll for attrition (18.5) for
    • out of supply units
    • units adjacent to enemy units

All German units are in supply.

GQG Phase (Sickle Cut only)

See Section 21.2

All 6 markers placed, numbers 6 and 4 removed by dice roll, both of which are near Rommel. This is good for the French, these units can fall back.

Allied Player Turn 2

The French need to fall back, they're not going to win a head-to-head fight against the Germans in most cases. There may be selective battles which are worth fighting if an important unit can be hurt, for example, one of the panzer brigades.

In this turn, the French 9 Army HQ is in danger of being overrun by 1, 6 and 10 Pz, so it needs to find some place safe to go, fast.

Allied Initial Phase

Sickle Cut: Flip all non-Disrupted HQ from Used to Ready (17.2.1).

Allied Movement Phase

  • Allied player may move all, some or none of the Allied units (7.0).
    • Rail movement at least 4, no more than 15 (7.7).
  • (Turn 1 only) Dyle Line construction.
  • Reinforcements enter (19.0).
  • Note Extended Movement (7.3)

Reinforcement, 3 units by random draw:

  1. British 20G coming in on N.
  2. French 13 Inf coming in on SE.
  3. 1 Col division coming on E.

These aren't bad units at all.

Rail movement, three units currently on the rails, let's get these out of the way first, and see if we can't go grab any of the reinforcements. First thing is detraining 1 NA, 32 Inf and 43 Inf exactly where they're currently located, and apply a Disrupted marker which limits their movement to two hexes. The only other move that makes sense is entraining the 13 Inf from its SE entry point to Laon. The 13 Inf will likely detrain here next turn.

9 Army HQ flips to used to move 5 + 2 hexes. Can't use extended movement on it's Ready side, and it's in too much danger where it is right now, within 2 hexes of 3 panze divisions.

1 Army HQ flips and moves to the Dyle line. This may be a bad idea, but the notion is to make it costly for the Germans to have at least some sort of force in their rear area. It should be safe stacked up on the fortification with 1 Morrocan.

A little reshuffling down south, but nothing much. The units I want to entrain are both GQG.

Allied Combat Phase

Allied player conducts all attacks (8.0) including Overruns (15.0) and Disengagement Attempts (20.4).

One combat here, a bunch of units on the Dyle line attacking 4 Pz at 2:1 odds. Quite likely there will be an attacker step loss, but just as likely there will be a Defender Retreat, and possibly an exchange or A1/D1, all which work fine for the Allies here. The Germans really can't afford to be messing around, and if they get retreated that means disrupted, which means 2 hex movement limit on the following turn. Any roll but a 1 works… roll 4 for DR, 4 Pz is retreated and disrupted. Bummer for the huns.

Allied Recovery Phase

Remove Disruption markers if possible (13.3).

Allied Supply Phase

  • Check supply status (18.0) for all Allied units
  • Roll for attrition (18.5) for
    • out of supply units
    • units adjacent to enemy units

All Allied units in supply.

End Phase

Move the game turn counter and proceed to next turn.

Turn 3

The Germans have clearly broken through, and there is a gaping hole in the French line. The northern end anchored by the Dyle line seems much more secure for the French, as does the south which has the advantage of both the Meuse and the Maginot Line to confound German offensives. Whether that matters or not depends in part on what the Germans do next. Do they make a dash for the channel? Or do they shore up the rear area to ensure they stay in supply? We'll find out more during Turn 3.

German Player Turn

The German's main goal this turn is establish a definite salient deep into France, while keeping enough pressure on the Maginot and Dyle lines to make Allied abandonement of those positions costly. To this end, 3 and 4 Pz are swinging west and south across the Meuse; the Dyle line is a sideshow, the armor and mechanized are needed to the west. This puts them a little behind, but since the French Line cracked in Turn 2, they're still in pretty good shape. If nothing else, they can help protect the flanks of the salient.

German Initial Phase

Flip all Air units from Used to Ready side.

German Movement Phase

  • German player may move all, some or none of the German units (7.0).
  • Reinforcements enter (19.0).
  • Note Extended Movement (7.3) and EZOC +2 MP penalty (5.2).
  • Compute Automatic DS (10.1, 14.2)

The infantry reinforcements move to help secure supply lines and the flanks of the salient. Mechanized reinforcements such as 8 Pz move straight west into the salient. As noted above, 3 and 4 Pz will join other mechanized forces pushing west and leave the Dyle line to the infantry. The French are in pretty tight to the southeast, and will require flanking to dislodge them from around the Sedan area. 9 Pz is one turn from Cambrai, 1 and 10 Pz one turn from Laon. The Germans will engage in several places, and are expecting to be engaged by the Allies this turn as well.

German Combat Phase

German player conducts all attacks (8.0) including Overruns (15.0) and Disengagement Attempts (20.4).

Three German attacks this turn. From northeast to southwest, we have infantry divisions attacking empty fortification in Namur, mechanized attack on depleted French in Foret de Trelon, and mechanized action against 1 NA near Montcornet.

  1. Namur: 12, 32, 28 Inf attacking Fort PFN, 18:3 is 6:1 with air 1R and fortification hex 1L for net 7:1. Roll 3, DRM which eliminates PFN and allow 28 and 32 Inf to advance into hex 5305.

  2. 5/2 and 25/2 Mech attacking depleted 61 Inf west of Foret de Trelon. Attack 6 defend 3, 2:1 plus 1R air net 3:1, roll 2, EX, bummer but the French would have attacked here next phase anyway with a pretty good chance of losing more. On the good side, this French unit is eliminated. However, DRM also gives a Bonus advance of 3 hexes to motorized, and these are three actual hexes for which MP do not have to be figured, so 5/2 and 25/2 move up next to the vanguard. Step loss is taken from 25/2.

  3. 1 NA is being assaulted by elements of 1 and 10 Pz. The odds are 22:7 with TQ, armor and air shifts for 3R net. The problem here is possibility of an adverse DRX result, so maybe better to stay at 4:1 odds by removing a unit…if possible. Need to check the rules on stacking requirements with respect to combat…this is fine so 1/1 Pz Bgd is sitting this one out, while GD, 4/10 PzB (panzer brigade, 86/10 and 69/10 mech will conduct the attack at 14:7 with 3R for 5:1 odds. If 86/10 wasn't depleted this would be at 1:1 for 3:1 odds (no armor bonus). Roll 6 DS, 1 NA retreats towards Laon with the 10 Pz in pursuit, but remains out of reach of overrun.

That's all the combat for this turn.

German Recovery Phase

Remove Disruption markers if possible (13.3).

4 Pz gets undisrupted.

German Supply Phase

  • Check supply status (18.0) for all German units
  • Roll for attrition (18.5) for
    • out of supply units
    • units adjacent to enemy units

All German units in supply.

GQG Phase (Sickle Cut only)

See Section 21.2

GQG 1 and 4 removed, good result for the French, units south of Sedan are now freed up to find some rail and get to a more useful position.

Allied Player Turn

Due to movement blunders favoring the Germans, the French lost control of the Meuse and Ardennes very early in the game and now have to figure out how to salvage a not complete annihilation. The plan is to keep the Germans busy chasing French units which position themselves to deny German victory conditions.

Allied Initial Phase

  • Sickle Cut: Flip all non-Disrupted HQ from Used to Ready (17.2.1).

All flipped from last turn's movement, ready for use now.

Allied Movement Phase

  • Allied player may move all, some or none of the Allied units (7.0).
    • Rail movement ends at least 4 hexes from German, move no more than 15 (7.7).
  • (Turn 1 only) Dyle Line construction.
  • Reinforcements enter (19.0).
  • Note Extended Movement (7.3)

Reinforcements: 44 BEF mechanized from N moves to northwest of Arras; 21 Inf from N moves to fortified hex at Maulde; 44 Inf comes in from SE moves to Riems. These are pretty good units, and in pretty good positions. The Germans will have to mass to take on any of them.

Mostly just shifted pieces short distances to attempt to preserve some sort of line, or to try and build one.

Allied Combat Phase

Allied player conducts all attacks (8.0) including Overruns (15.0 and Disengagement Attempts (20.4).

Two battles:

  1. 22 and 18 Inf with 84/101 Garrison unit boldly and aggressively attacking the 5/2 and 25/2 motorized. The 25/2 is already 1 step down. Odd are 2:1 with 1R HQ shift from 9 Army in Maubeuge. Roll 3, DR, Well that wasn't that great, would have preferred an EX, or even A1/D1.

  2. German 8 Inf lodged in Bois du Prince is under attack from a collection of French units. Low TQ from 35 and 38 Armor Batt. doesn't matter here because they are combined with higher TQ units. Odds are 26:8 yeilding 3:1 with 1R from 1 Army total 4:1. Roll 2, DR, not bad, but again, would prefer to hurting German units even at risk of losses. This is a good result for helping firm up a line and possibly even pinch off the salient.

That's it for Allied combat in Turn 3.

Allied Recovery Phase

Remove Disruption markers if possible (13.3).

Flip the Full Retreat to Disrupted for 1 NA. Every little bit helps.

Allied Supply Phase

  • Check supply status (18.0) for all Allied units
  • Roll for attrition (18.5) for
    • out of supply units
    • units adjacent to enemy units

Supply is not yet an issue.

End Phase

Move the game turn counter and proceed to next turn.

Turn 4, May 16 1940

Big decisions now at the 1/3 point in the game. The Germans are going to go for the coast, and attempt to cut the supply lines running north to south. This is worth 10 VPs. The Allies are going to try and prevent this. The situation over at the Dyle line will remain a bit of sideshow. If I were playing an opponent, I'd be looking to have the Germans cut supply off from Namur. In this game, I may try that, but it won't be the main focus, and German units may be shifted to supporting the reentrants of the salient instead.

The Allies plan for prevention involves fighting like hell to chew down as many units as possible, while maintaining the N-S supply across the map. This will require giving up a lot of ground, fast, to get far enough ahead of the Germans to ruin their plans. We'll see how it works out.

German Player Turn 4

As noted above, the Germans will 1. go for the coast, while 2. keep the pressure on the Dyle line and hope to get some kind of lucky in the north.

Specifically, the armored and motorized infantry will be bolting west at top speed, while the slower infantry divisions shore up the flanks of the salient.

German Initial Phase

Flip all Air units from Used to Ready side.

German Movement Phase

  • German player may move all, some or none of the German units (7.0).
  • Reinforcements enter (19.0).
  • Note Extended Movement (7.3) and EZOC +2 MP penalty (5.2).
  • Compute Automatic DS (10.1, 14.2)

Out in front is 6 Pz, heading for a confrontation with BEF near Arras. To the southwest is Rommel's 7 Pz, trailed closely by 5 Pz, both heading for Abbeville. 10 Pz and 1 Pz are heading to Beauvais. 2 and 8 Pz are following right up the middle. The infantry will engage in the Ardennes, the south side of Namur, the north end of the Dyle line and southwest of Sedan.

Here's the situation in the west:

German Turn 4 move complete

As can be seen, the Germans have a thin line snaking out, which could be cut if they are not careful. The Air Support markers denote upcoming Turn 4 combat, up next.

German Combat Phase

German player conducts all attacks (8.0) including Overruns (15.0) and Disengagement Attempts (20.4).

Three battles this turn:

  1. Northern end of Dyle line: Germans 24 to French 7 defending is 3:1, with 1R Air Support for 4:1 column, roll 6, D*, which is great for the Germans: mandatory step loss and retreat.

  2. South side of Namur: 18:6 is 3:1 with 1L for fortification hex and 1R with Air Support, net 3:1 roll 1 (ouch) A1/DR. French will conduct Determined Defense: roll 5, in fort hex step loss both sides and retreat canceled. So that's two step losses for the Germans here.

  3. French 3 NA is under attack from 4 German infantry divisions, odds are 24:7 hence 3:1 with 1R for AS; roll 4 DR, will not engage wit Determined Defense, will retreat across the Meuse.

And that's combat for the Germans in Turn 4. Could have been better, but could have been worse.

German Recovery Phase

Remove Disruption markers if possible (13.3).

German Supply Phase

  • Check supply status (18.0) for all German units
  • Roll for attrition (18.5) for
    • out of supply units
    • units adjacent to enemy units

All in supply.

GQG Phase (Sickle Cut only)

See Section 21.2

GQG 2 is off the map, but the big French armor stack west of Namur is now throttled.

Allied Player Turn 4

The way the situation is developing, the Allies have some opportunity to pinch off the salient and put the Germans out of supply.

Allied Initial Phase

  • Sickle Cut: Flip all non-Disrupted HQ from Used to Ready (17.2.1).

1 Army is back to active on the Dyle line.

Allied Movement Phase

  • Allied player may move all, some or none of the Allied units (7.0).
    • Rail movement ends at least 4 hexes from German, move no more than 15 (7.7).
  • (Turn 1 only) Dyle Line construction.
  • Reinforcements enter (19.0).
  • Note Extended Movement (7.3)

Reinforcements: British 5 Mech from N, French 14 Inf and 28 Mtn from SE and S respectively. Very helpful, especially in the north as Lens can probably be held, which would preserve the BEF HQ which is otherwise in serious danger. de Gaulle! He goes to Reims. Hence, 5 Mech to Lens, 14 Inf to Compiègne (help protect entrained HQ), and the 44 entrains to Charleville Mézieres region.

Rail: The Allies have a situation developing out west: units on trains which will be unable to escape once detrained and Disrupted in their current locations, so they have to move again by train. 6 Army is making a run to the east, and will quite likely be able to detrain behind the German line. 13 Inf moves to just north of Abbeville and will detrain in the following turn. This will allow to get recovered and move back into Abbeville by the time 10 Pz gets there. It's probably going down, but hopefully it will take a piece of 10 Pz with it.

Southeast: The current plan is to continue to hold the Maginot line, while shifting units west to maintain defense at the Meuse. So far the Germans have not been able to cross the Meuse south of the Ardennes.

Northeast: Le French are Le Sad, but, they are working hard to close off the salient, and they are going to force the Germans to stop advancing and fight within another couple of turns.

I may bring in extra reinforcements for the French next turn, just for fun so that the situation is a bit more balanced given the Germans broke through the Ardennes so fast. This could be realistic, the Allies would have shifted even more troops, right? Anyway, who cares, it's just a game.

Allied Combat Phase

Allied player conducts all attacks (8.0) including Overruns (15.0) and Disengagement Attempts (20.4).

One battle for the Allies this turn:

  • 3 Mech and 7 Armor Batt take on 15/29 and 71/29 Mech regiments, which are in the clear. It's 7:6 hence 1:1 with an armor shift favoring the French for 2:1. Let's roll: 4 DR. Darn. Was hoping for at least an EX. 2 Army HQ could have but did not participate, and will be available for defensive use next turn.

Let's take a look at the situation at the end of Turn 4. Note that all the Disrupted markers have been removed.

End of Turn 4

As can be seem, the French are slowly tightening the noose. The Germans have a decision to make: stay and fight to push the French back and protect supply, or get more mechanized units through the remaining gap while it's still easy.

Allied Recovery Phase

Remove Disruption markers if possible (13.3).

12 Mech and 1 NA now fully recovered.

Allied Supply Phase

  • Check supply status (18.0) for all Allied units
  • Roll for attrition (18.5) for
    • out of supply units
    • units adjacent to enemy units

Allied units all in supply.

End Phase

Move the game turn counter and proceed to next turn.

Turn 5, May 17 1940

The game is moving into the half way mark. Hitler could issues a Halt! at any time, as the panzers race to the coast. Well, the Allied player because is thankfully long dead and gone.

German Player Turn 5

The Germans must see to their supply lines or the Allies will cut it next turn, without a doubt.

German Initial Phase

Flip all Air units from Used to Ready side.

German Movement Phase

  • German player may move all, some or none of the German units (7.0).
  • Reinforcements enter (19.0).
  • Note Extended Movement (7.3) and EZOC +2 MP penalty (5.2).
  • Compute Automatic DS (10.1, 14.2)

Holy smokes, panzers are everywhere!

There's a lot to write. Let's start with the panzers:

  • Rommel and 7 Pz advance to just south of Arras.
  • 10 Pz and 1 Pz advance to just west of Amiens.
  • 5 Pz and elements of 20 Mech will engage 32 Inf which is lodged in Cambrai.
  • 6 Pz occupies Lille.
  • 1/1 Pz Bgd and GD traps 6 Army HQ on the train south of Compi&#acute;re.
  • 2, 3, 4 and 8 Pz advance into the salient to keep the supply line open. If the French get aggressive and lucky, they could cut supply.
  • The infantry is grinding up into the salient to keep the supply lines open. Going slow, but the French are on the other side of the Meuse, so there isn't much danger.

Here's what it looks like out in the west.

German position in the west end of Turn 5

The Germans are Large and In Charge. At least for now.

Now it's time to fight.

German Combat Phase

German player conducts all attacks (8.0) including Overruns (15.0) and Disengagement Attempts (20.4).

Four battles instigated by the Germans this turn.

  1. Dyke line: French 12 Inf (depleted) and BEF 20G defending against 7, 18, 35 and 269 Inf. Odds are 24:8 with 1L for fortification 1L for 7 Army HQ and 1R for German Air Support, net 2:1 roll 6 for D1. That's step loss and retreat, but the Allies are going to conduct Determined Defense since they're fortified. The Determined Defense roll is a 5, which is a 1/1 and the Dyle line holds! The French have been good about holding solid ground when they're on it.
  2. The battle continues on the south side of Namur, with 2:1 odds, roll 1 A1, dang. The Jerrys are getting whupped.
  3. At the west tip of the Ardennes, two panzer divisions engage 18 Inf. This is a strong unit, it's 33:7 which is 4:1 with 1R and 1L. Roll 3 for DR, but 18 Inf is surrounded by EZOCs. Time to go to the rules. According to the rules, the 14 can retreat to an overstack situation right through the EZOC, so that's what it does. In any case, this punches a nice hole through the Allied line for at least another turn.
  4. Trying for the Meuse southwest of Sedan. 4 German infantry divisions at half strength each for 12 attack factors. One poor quality French infantry unit (55 Inf) defending at double strength for 12. Air and TQ shift for 2R, with French 2 Army shift 1L for 2:1. Let's see what happens. Roll 1, A1, dang.

There was some notion about attempting Cambria, but that would be a tough nut with only one panzer division and two motorized. Maybe tomorrow.

German Recovery Phase

Remove Disruption markers if possible (13.3).

All good.

German Supply Phase

  • Check supply status (18.0) for all German units
  • Roll for attrition (18.5) for
    • out of supply units
    • units adjacent to enemy units

GQG Phase (Sickle Cut only)

See Section 21.2

GQG 6 on French 3 Mech in the Ardennes. Roll 4 and 5, good news for French, frees up two armor and 1 motorized, and the 4 NA Inf which is a pretty good unit. Game is about to get more interesting.

Allied Player Turn 5

The Allies are going to really benefit from the GQG removal this turn, and will have 4 reinforcement units coming in.

Allied Initial Phase

  • Sickle Cut: Flip all non-Disrupted HQ from Used to Ready (17.2.1).

This brings back 1, 2 and 9 Army HQs.

Allied Movement Phase

  • Allied player may move all, some or none of the Allied units (7.0).
    • Rail movement ends at least 4 hexes from German, move no more than 15 (7.7).
  • (Turn 1 only) Dyle Line construction.
  • Reinforcements enter (19.0).
  • Note Extended Movement (7.3)

Reinforcements: 9 (depleted) and 25 Mot N, 5 and 7 Colonial in the south. All very welcome, now to ensure they last more than a couple of turns. In the north, 9 into Roubaix, 25 into Tournai. In the south, the colonial divisions enter from Riems and move north towards the Ardennes, on the trains, which is now working for the Allies.

Other movement includes some motion around the north end of the Maginot line, the French are going to try their luck to flank the Germans. At the extreme west end of the Ardennes, the French are going to attempt to take down 5/2 and 25/2 Mot.

Allied Combat Phase

Allied player conducts all attacks (8.0) including Overruns (15.0) and Disengagement Attempts (20.4).

  • Maginot area: 3:1 roll 6 D1, so 71 Inf retreats and 1 Col and 3 NA advance a single hex as it's an EZOC. This may or may not be an advantage to the French as they now lose the benefit of the Meuse for defense. But they do threaten the Germans in the rear area now.

  • 4:1 against 5/2 and 25/2, roll 2 DR, they retreat into an overstacking situation with 2 Pz. Not what the French need, they need to eliminate German units. This works well enough to put the Germans in the west out of supply.

And that's all for May 17, 1940.

Allied Recovery Phase

Remove Disruption markers if possible (13.3).

6 Army and 13 Inf now undisrupted.

Allied Supply Phase

  • Check supply status (18.0) for all Allied units
  • Roll for attrition (18.5) for
    • out of supply units
    • units adjacent to enemy units

All units in supply.

Halt! marker down, probably way later than will make a difference. Roll for 2 removal, and of course Rommel is not halted.

End Phase

Move the game turn counter and proceed to next turn.

And now we're at the half way point, with the Allies about to get very badly beaten.

I think I'm going to add to the French reinforcements.

Turn 6, May 18 1940

It's going very badly for the Allies almost everywhere except the Dyle Line which continues to hold. The situation in the Ardennes is tenuous. At the start of this turn, the Germans west of Ardennes are technically out of supply, but it won't matter in this game until the end of the turn. (Strictly a game play thing, that's how the rules are written.) Can the Germans open the supply line, or will the Allies hold it closed.

German Player Turn 6

The situation up at the Dyle Line is getting ridiculous. This needs to be resolved, even if it costs German units.

German Initial Phase

Flip all Air units from Used to Ready side.

German Movement Phase

  • German player may move all, some or none of the German units (7.0).
  • Reinforcements enter (19.0).
  • Note Extended Movement (7.3) and EZOC +2 MP penalty (5.2).
  • Compute Automatic DS (10.1, 14.2)

Reinforcements: 11 and 46 Inf and SS Tot Mot enter at A and will proceed directly to battles on Dyle Line. 45 and 211 Inf and 11 Mot Bg enter C and will proceed to releive depleted unit south of Namur. 10 and 26 Inf enter C and shore up the southwestern end of the German front to prevent being flanked. They may make threatening gestures at the Maginot Line in future turns. Still to be decided.

  • 76 and 90 Mot occupy Donai.
  • Elements of 1 Pz under Halt! order advance on Compière to threaten 6 Army and 82 Mtn.
  • 10 Pz (Halt!ed) advances into Amiens, followed closely by remaining elements of 1 Pz (also Halt!ed).
  • Various infantry divisions repositioned for attacking the Dyle Line. SS Tot put in reserve in case the line collapses.
  • Reinforcements down south move to threaten the Maginot. Not sure if this is a good idea, but let's see what happens.
  • 2, 3 and 8 Pz engage Allies at the far western boundary of the Ardennes. A lot of fighting going to happen here shortly.
  • 7 Pz occupies Béthune.

There's a lot going on in this turn.

Time to fight.

German Combat Phase

German player conducts all attacks (8.0) including Overruns (15.0) and Disengagement Attempts (20.4).

Combat in Turn 6 at the Dyle Line

  • Dyle Line 1 Army defending, odds 24:7 yields 3:1 with shift 1L and 1R canceling, roll 3 DR, Determined Defense roll 2 no effect and the Dyle Line is breached!

  • Dyle Line 5 NA defending 23:7 yields 3:1 shift 1R net 4:1 roll 4 A1/D1, Determined Defense roll 1, bummer, should have taken the retreat in this case. 5 NA ends up as a remnant.

Combat in Turn 6 at the western edge of the Ardennes

Continuing at the western edge of the Ardennes, we have three battles to keep the German supply lines open. There is a possibility, albeit small, that the French can hold here.

  • 15 Mot defending with DF 7, Germans attacking with elements of 2 & 3 Pz:
    • 3k/3 Mot AF 2;
    • 3/3 Mot AF 2;
    • 3/3 Pz Bg AF 8;
    • 2/2 Pz Bg AF 8;
    • 2k/2 Mot AF 2.

    Odds 22:7 with Air and TQ shift 2R yield 5:1. Roll 6 for DS, defender retreats 8 hexes to Valenciennes.

  • 1 DCR defending DF 6, Germans attacking with elements of 8 Pz:
    • 2/2 Mot AF 2;
    • 8k/8 Mot AF 2;
    • 10/8 Pz Bg AF 8;
    • 6 Geb AF 6;

    18:6 with Air and TQ shift 2R yields 5:1, roll 1 DR, no determined defense here. Not good, line is broken here. Also, advance after combat is Normal, so no overrun possible.

  • 22 Inf and 84/101 Garrison defending, various German motorized units attacking, 11:10 odds with 2R for Air and TQ yield 3:1, roll 2 EX. The German step is taken by the 8/8, which is weaker in AF but is an elite unit. The French step loss is taken by 22 Inf. But there is no retreat, the line is holding here!

Not a good result for the Allies.

German Recovery Phase

Remove Disruption markers if possible (13.3).

5/2 and 25/2 Mot recovered from Disruption.

German Supply Phase

  • Check supply status (18.0) for all German units
  • Roll for attrition (18.5) for
    • out of supply units
    • units adjacent to enemy units

Results of last battles ensure German supply lines are open.

GQG Phase (Sickle Cut only)

See Section 21.2

GQG turned out ok for the Allies. The big armor stack went back under GQG but another was removed. In the interest of game play, I'm removing all the GQG this turn, and will emplace next turn as usual.

Allied Player Turn 6

Dark days for the Allies, as it was in history. Fortunately, some extra reinforcements (!) just happened to have appeared…a little late, but definitely welcome.

So, what to do? A few (2) extra reinforcements is nice, but it's not nearly enough to salvage the situation for the Allies. What I'm looking for as a player is to limit the damage. For example, let's assume the Germans pretty much have it in the bag as far as the game goes. What's the most sensible thing to concede to the Germans, versus the most sensible thing to fight over?

Task 1: Hold the E and SE at all costs, from Riems west. If possible, extend this through Soissons in subsequent turns.

Task 2: Attempt to trap the units which broke through the Dyle Line into an out of supply situation by holding an arc between Namur and Tournai. This will grant the Germans the possibility of 3 N exit hexes, but unless those hexes are in supply, they won't matter.

Task 3: Watch for opportunity to establish N-S supply at the coast, which is going to the Germans real soon now.

Allied Initial Phase

  • Sickle Cut: Flip all non-Disrupted HQ from Used to Ready (17.2.1).

1, 2 and 9 Army HQ are back in play.

Allied Movement Phase

  • Allied player may move all, some or none of the Allied units (7.0).
    • Rail movement ends at least 4 hexes from German, move no more than 15 (7.7).
  • (Turn 1 only) Dyle Line construction.
  • Reinforcements enter (19.0).
  • Note Extended Movement (7.3)

Reinforcements: I'm bringing in a couple of extra this turn to make the game play a bit more interesting:

  • N: 1 DLM (a super-strong armor division), 1 and 42 BEF Mot.
  • SE: 11, 27 (Mtn) and 36 Inf. Not great but not bad.

The rest of the Allies movements support Tasks 1 & 2 as outlined in this turn's plan. The Germans really have a lot of units, very tough.

Allied Combat Phase

Allied player conducts all attacks (8.0) including Overruns (15.0) and Disengagement Attempts (20.4).

One major combat of note: French mechanized hitting 3k/3 and 3/3 really hard southwest of Maubeuge. Germans defending with 4 DF, attckers with 27, nominally 6:1, shift 1L TQ 1R 9 Army HQ. Roll 3 DRM, advancing doesn't serve a lot of purpose other than spread the risk of bad GQG luck on the next German turn. Too bad, was hoping for a DS.

Allied Recovery Phase

Remove Disruption markers if possible (13.3).

Recovered several French units.

Allied Supply Phase

  • Check supply status (18.0) for all Allied units
  • Roll for attrition (18.5) for
    • out of supply units
    • units adjacent to enemy units

All units in supply.

End Phase

Move the game turn counter and proceed to next turn.

And that's a wrap for May 18, 1940.

Turn 7, May 19 1940.

I'm not taking detailed notes for Turn 7, just playing it out according to the turn sequence.

The plan is to continue as per Turn 6, for both sides. It's actually kind of boring for the Germans at the moment as all they have to do to win is basically do nothing.

German Player Turn 7

Upshot of German phase: very close to losing supply line south of Maubeuge.

Bringing in 2 extra reinforcements for Allies as per previous turn.

Allied Player Turn 7

The Germans are just about cut off out west. The Allies just shattered a couple of motorized units into full retreat. Would be nice to completely eliminate these units, but that seems to be easier said than done. Advancing would put the Allied unit out of supply, bummer.

Turn 8, May 20 1940

(Turn 1) Provide a broad description of the situation, and some notion of the challenges faced by the Allied and German players. (Remaining turns) Recap the preceding turn, describe challenge for each player in upcoming turn.

The situation hasn't changed too much over the last couple of turns: the Germans need to break the tips of the pincer that the Allies are trying to close at Fourmeis. The Allies need to close it to close of German supply lines to the west.

German Player Turn

Describe the main challenge to the German player this turn, and one or more potential resolutions to the challenge. Explain the situation with respect to overall goal.

Two main efforts: break the Allies' pincer at Fourmeis, and close off N and X entry points in the West.

German Initial Phase

Flip all Air units from Used to Ready side.

Done.

German Movement Phase

  • German player may move all, some or none of the German units (7.0).
  • Reinforcements enter (19.0).
  • Note Extended Movement (7.3) and EZOC +2 MP penalty (5.2).
  • Compute Automatic DS (10.1, 14.2)

Reinforcements include:

  • 1 and 217 Inf with Verf SS entering from A
  • LAH entering B
  • 94 entering C
  • 72 entering D

In the east, many battles to beat back the Allies. The infantry reinforcements primarily used for this. The main fighting is on the western tip of the Ardennes, where there is a small gap through the Allied EZOCs which is really slowing down the German advance. This needs to be blown open because the mechanized units are bottlenecked behind it.

In the west, the situation is considerably more complicated, and I don't really know what the Germans need to do. A good plan would be to shift units west, protecting current gains, and attempt to cut the north-south rail line between X and Abbeville.

German Combat Phase

German player conducts all attacks (8.0) including Overruns (15.0) and Disengagement Attempts (20.4).

Six combats:

  • 26 and 72 Inf take on the Maginot. It's 12:5, with an air shift 1R, an HQ shift 1L, and the Maginot shift 1L for 1:1. That was a miscalculation, but let's roll… 6 for A1/D1, lucky! This is an elmination of the fort, and the Germans advance into that hex. This threatens the E entry point of the Allies. This is probably not going to hold, as the Allied can mass against it. Would have been better to have left a few more German infantry units in that area to dissuade Allied counterattacks. Or punish them.

  • In the Ardennes, a 2:1 rolls 5 for A1/D1, Germans decline the advance, prefer staying in wooded terrain for better Determined Defense if necessary on counterattack.

  • At Forêt de Siguy le-Petit, 4:1 roll 5 D1, French retreat.

  • Bois de Chimay, 7 defending, 26 attacking 1R Air Support for 4:1 roll 5 D1, the reserve units move up, but decline to break through as they are not strong in defense.

  • North side of Forêt de Trelon, 4:1 roll 4 A1/D1

  • Charleroi, no Air on this one, straight slugfest. 7 Army and 2 NA defending in city so DF is 14. Attacking we have 28, so 1:1 considering shift 1L from HQ, roll 1 for A1, bummer. Step loss from 18 Inf. Will need an air or quality shift to make this worthwhile.

That's enough for now.

German Recovery Phase

Remove Disruption markers if possible (13.3).

Flip the Full Retreat on the mechanized units to Disrupted.

German Supply Phase

  • Check supply status (18.0) for all German units
  • Roll for attrition (18.5) for
    • out of supply units
    • units adjacent to enemy units

All good, still.

GQG Phase (Sickle Cut only)

See Section 21.2

Replace 4 and 6, roll to remove 1 and 5. Overall helpful for Germans.

The game is now 3/4 finished.

Allied Player Turn

Describe the main challenge to the Allied player this turn, and one or more potential resolutions to the challenge. Explain the situation with respect to overall goal.

Main goal for this turn is to get really aggressive with cutting off supply line, even if it means spreading weak units thinly across the map. This will force the German player to pursue the Allies out of necessity. At this point, the Allies will be getting enough reinforcements that they can afford to lose more units.

Allied Initial Phase

  • Sickle Cut: Flip all non-Disrupted HQ from Used to Ready (17.2.1).

All HQ ready to go.

Allied Movement Phase

  • Allied player may move all, some or none of the Allied units (7.0).
    • Rail movement ends at least 4 hexes from German, move no more than 15 (7.7).
  • (Turn 1 only) Dyle Line construction.
  • Reinforcements enter (19.0).
  • Note Extended Movement (7.3)

Reinforcements:

  • N: 23 and 46 Inf, 25 Mot Bg. and 12 Recon. This is going to cramp the German's style in a big way.

  • S: 23 Inf.

  • E: 3 Inf, which will immediately attack on the Maginot to reclaim lost ground and prevent taking the Allied reinforcement zones. Good chance this will occur as it's coming in a 3:1.

Detraining de Gaulle, 2 DRC and 7 NA. Will need these units bad in the last two turns. Entraining 6 Army and moving east, will be available on Turn 10.

The rest of the Allied units ar going to close the noose on the Germans on a line running from the southeast to the northwest, from the Maginot Line to Armentières. Reinforcements from the south can travel due north. The supply line to the far west is going to be tough to hold, we'll see what happens.

But the line is in and the Germans will be out of supply if they cannot break this line next turn. This is going to be tough for them as they need to start exiting units from the map.

Allied Combat Phase

Allied player conducts all attacks (8.0) including Overruns (15.0) and Disengagement Attempts (20.4).

Four combats:

  • At the Maginot Line, 20:8 with 1R for the French yields 3:1 roll 5 for A1/D1, the French are fine with that as it drives the Germans back.

  • Southeast of Maubeuge, 8 Pz is under vicious attack, odds 32:13, armor shifts cancel, TQ cancels with HQ, let's roll 'em at 2:1 and get anything but a 1… roll 3 for EX. This hurts the French, but probably hurts 8 Pz more.

  • 3:1 on SS Tot in Courcelles, roll 2 for EX, not the best roll for the French in this case. Anything with a retreat would have better. Actually, this is a 4:1 as there is an armor shift, which means roll 2 is a DR, which is much better!

  • 3 DLM takes on 12/4 and 33/4 Mot at 3:1 with armor and TQ canceling, roll 4 DR, ok result for the French.

Germans are hosed in here. That's all for now.

Allied Recovery Phase

Remove Disruption markers if possible (13.3).

There a lot of French units coming out from under disruption.

Allied Supply Phase

  • Check supply status (18.0) for all Allied units
  • Roll for attrition (18.5) for
    • out of supply units
    • units adjacent to enemy units

Allies are in supply everywhere.

End Phase

Move the game turn counter and proceed to next turn.

Turn 9, May 21, 1940

(Turn 1) Provide a broad description of the situation, and some notion of the challenges faced by the Allied and German players. (Remaining turns) Recap the preceding turn, describe challenge for each player in upcoming turn.

Getting down to the wire, and the Germans are technically out of supply from Allied activity yesterday. Their goal today is to open the supply lines back up and ensure they stay open. Along the way, cut the far west Allied rail for 10 VP, and exit a number of mechanized units off the map.

And fight like hell to get the supply lines back open before the supply phase at the end of the turn.

It's worth noting that if there were a couple more turns, there is a good chance the Germans could pocket a dozen Allied units just west of Namur. Not sure there will be time for that. And it's a bit of a distraction in any case.

The Allies need to 1. keep from getting encircled, while 2. keeping the pressure on German supply, and 3. attempting to keep supply open across the north-south corridor.

German Player Turn

Describe the main challenge to the German player this turn, and one or more potential resolutions to the challenge. Explain the situation with respect to overall goal.

First, supply is critical, and it has to be opened back up whatever the cost to German units.

The effort in the west is going to be somewhat secondary, although VPs can be picked up here fairly easily by units that cannot get back to the main fighting west of the Ardennes.

German Initial Phase

Flip all Air units from Used to Ready side.

German Movement Phase

  • German player may move all, some or none of the German units (7.0).
  • Reinforcements enter (19.0).
  • Note Extended Movement (7.3) and EZOC +2 MP penalty (5.2).

  • Compute Automatic DS (10.1, 14.2)

  • 9 Pz and a couple of infantry divisions enter from the north.

Lots of motion. Probably 2/3 of the Germans moved. Kind of tired from the week, so I don't feel like going unit by unit on the moves. Will save the blow by blow for upcoming combat.

German Combat Phase

German player conducts all attacks (8.0) including Overruns (15.0) and Disengagement Attempts (20.4).

Big battles this turn, seven of them.

  • Between Namur and Châtelet, 8 German units attacking French 5 Mot, which is completely surrounded, 43:7 no shifts yields 6:1, roll DRM but there's no place to go. This is an elminination as there is no Determined Defense allowed for DRM, hence no Desperation Defense. Verf SS advances into the vacated hex.

  • South of Courcelles: German infantry divisions taking on a stack of 5 French armor battalions. Raw odds 10:5, shift 2R TQ and Air, 1L armor shift defending, yield 3:1 roll 2 for EX, probably as good an outcome for the French as could be expected.

  • Avesnes-sur-Helpes: 28:12, TQ and Air shift 2R, armor shifts cancel, yield 4:1 roll 5 for D1, having to do some major advancing after combat here.

  • West of Fourmeis: Load of German motorized taking on 3 DCR which is under a GQG (6). 18:6 with Air and TQ shift 2R and armor shift 1L yield 4:1 roll 2 for DR, could have gone better for Germans.

  • South of Fourmeis: 16 Inf takes on 3 Mot at 1:1 with shift 1R for Air yield 2:1 roll 6 (lucky!) for D1.

  • Southeast of Valenciennes: French 9 Mot (depleted) defending in fort hex against 90/20 Mot and 2/2 Pz Bg, 2k/2 Mot and 3/3 Pz Bg. This is 21:5 with Air shift canceling fort hex shift, yield 4:1 roll 4 for A1/D1. French 9 Inf goes to Remnant, will employ Determined Defense using "Other" column with -1 modified, roll 3 - 1 is 2. No Effect. So the 9 Inf is pretty much done. I think there is an opportunity here for overruning during retreat, but I don't really understand the overrun rules.

  • North of Hesdin, over by the Channel 4/10 and 11/6 Pz taking on British 44 Mot. 16:8 with armor and TQ for 2R yields 4:1 roll 5 for D1, which is great for the Germans as they can advance on other British units 25 Mot and 46 Inf, which locks them up pretty good.

Overall, not as good of results as the Germans need, but there is supply across the map as of right now. The Allies are sure to shut it down again, they have a lot of units in motion and closing fast.

German Recovery Phase

Remove Disruption markers if possible (13.3).

Not that many to remove, but everything helps.

German Supply Phase

  • Check supply status (18.0) for all German units
  • Roll for attrition (18.5) for
    • out of supply units
    • units adjacent to enemy units

This is the first turn where checking supply needs to be done very carefully. And the Germans are barely in supply going into the bottom of the 9th turn.

GQG Phase (Sickle Cut only)

See Section 21.2

Double 3s, nothing removed. This is a boon to the Germans.

Allied Player Turn 9

Describe the main challenge to the Allied player this turn, and one or more potential resolutions to the challenge. Explain the situation with respect to overall goal.

The Allies are probably going to close the front between Valenciennes and St-Quentin. If at the same time they can 1. shut off the west between Valenciennes and Mons they'll be in a great position to really hurt the Germans on VPs. Even more so if they can encircle around Maubeuge. Let's see how it plays out.

Allied Initial Phase

  • Sickle Cut: Flip all non-Disrupted HQ from Used to Ready (17.2.1).
  • Dynamo: Flip all RAF units from Used to Ready (22.6).

Allied Movement Phase

  • Allied player may move all, some or none of the Allied units (7.0).
    • Rail movement ends at least 4 hexes from German, move no more than 15 (7.7).
  • (Turn 1 only) Dyle Line construction.
  • Reinforcements enter (19.0).
  • Note Extended Movement (7.3)

Five reinforcements for real this turn. Note there are six extra Allied units on the map right now from previous tweaking. The reinforcements consist of:

  • 7 Inf and two battalions of light armor coming in from SE,
  • 29 Mtn from S, and
  • British 12 Inf from W.

Time to move some units. The situation isn't playing out like I thought. The Allies line is collapsing west of Namur, too much German infantry to hold it. However, they may be able to encircle more Germans after all, and they do take there supply line to friendly cities, so withdrawing westward should work.

Allied Combat Phase

Allied player conducts all attacks (8.0) including Overruns (15.0) and Disengagement Attempts (20.4).

  • German 3/3 motorized under attack at 4:1, roll 6 for D1&asterisk;, so no Determined Defense.

  • German motorize at 3:1 roll another 6 for D1, retreat back east so as not to get caught out of supply at game end.

  • 2 5th Mot suffering 4:1 roll 6 (geez) for D1&asterisk;, those units are eliminated!

  • Here's a great battle: 8/8 Mot (depleted), 93/13 Mot, and 66/13 Mot defending against 2 DCR, 43 Inf and de Gaulle. Watch the shifts stack up. Raw odds are 21:7, with shift left for TQ, and shifts 1R for armor and another 1R for de Gaulle. Plus, de Gaulle gets a reroll. Roll 1 at 5:1 is a DR, nah, let's try it again, roll 6, that's much better, DS, too bad the unit escaped through a ZOC bond. But another motorized unit was destroyed.

Things are starting to swing the Allies way. Having 6 some odd extra units on the map really matters!

Allied Recovery Phase

Remove Disruption markers if possible (13.3).

Seven units recovered.

Allied Supply Phase

  • Check supply status (18.0) for all Allied units
  • Roll for attrition (18.5) for
    • out of supply units
    • units adjacent to enemy units

All good to go.

End Phase

Move the game turn counter and proceed to next turn.

Turn 10, May 22 1940

(Turn 1) Provide a broad description of the situation, and some notion of the challenges faced by the Allied and German players. (Remaining turns) Recap the preceding turn, describe challenge for each player in upcoming turn.

German Player Turn 10

Describe the main challenge to the German player this turn, and one or more potential resolutions to the challenge. Explain the situation with respect to overall goal.

Almost over, just need to hold on to probably win, although losing those motorized units last turn hurt.

German Initial Phase

Flip all Air units from Used to Ready side.

German Movement Phase

  • German player may move all, some or none of the German units (7.0).
  • Reinforcements enter (19.0).
  • Note Extended Movement (7.3) and EZOC +2 MP penalty (5.2).
  • Compute Automatic DS (10.1, 14.2)

Reinforcements:

  • 81 and 292 enter B.
  • 82 enters C.

Mad repositioning, hard to say what's going to transpire. No idea who's going to win it.

German Combat Phase

German player conducts all attacks (8.0) including Overruns (15.0) and Disengagement Attempts (20.4).

Lots, too tired to deal, just rolling it on out amd will count up VPs after the dust settles.

Upshot is not looking for the Germans. Now I wish I hadn't brought in those 6 extra units! I recall relaxing the GQG for a turn or two.

German Recovery Phase

Remove Disruption markers if possible (13.3).

Done.

German Supply Phase

  • Check supply status (18.0) for all German units
  • Roll for attrition (18.5) for
    • out of supply units
    • units adjacent to enemy units

5/4 Pz is out of supply. This unit is toast.

GQG Phase (Sickle Cut only)

See Section 21.2

No recovery for GQG.

Allied Player Turn

Describe the main challenge to the Allied player this turn, and one or more potential resolutions to the challenge. Explain the situation with respect to overall goal.

This is a make or break turn for the Allies. So far it has felt like the Allies have been losing the whole game, but here at the end, there seems like an opportunity to shut the Germans down completely by closing off supply to the eastern edge of the board. Along with closing supply, it may be possible to encircle a number of mechanized units to gain more VPs. Let's play it out.

Allied Initial Phase

  • Sickle Cut: Flip all non-Disrupted HQ from Used to Ready (17.2.1).

HQ back on line.

Allied Movement Phase

  • Allied player may move all, some or none of the Allied units (7.0).
    • Rail movement ends at least 4 hexes from German, move no more than 15 (7.7).
  • (Turn 1 only) Dyle Line construction.
  • Reinforcements enter (19.0).
  • Note Extended Movement (7.3)

Too tired to go blow by blow. Succinctly, the Allies move loads of units to cut off the German advance and close the supply lines to the east. This (if I understand it correctly) puts all the German units in the west out of supply and negates victory points for all units exiting anywhere but X.

Allied Combat Phase

Allied player conducts all attacks (8.0) including Overruns (15.0) and Disengagement Attempts (20.4).

Arras retaken, which reestablishes rail across the map for the Allies and pretty much wins the game. This was a 1:1 battle, the dice went well for the Allies!

Allied Recovery Phase

Remove Disruption markers if possible (13.3).

Many removed, not that it matters now.

Allied Supply Phase

  • Check supply status (18.0) for all Allied units
  • Roll for attrition (18.5) for
    • out of supply units
    • units adjacent to enemy units

Couple of Allied units out of supply north side of Ardennes.

End Game

Here's what it looks like at the end of the game.

Situation at end of game

Score: Germans 4, all the other exit points are out of supply. Allies, at least 4 units destroyed, N-S rails for 10 coming in from Armintières and exiting via Abbeville, 11 mechanized units out of supply. Roughly, 25 to Allies if I'm counting this correctly.

AAR

Due to numerous blunders as listed below, the Germans got across the Meuse on Turn 2. This is pretty much not possible using legal moves, there's no way to get the Ardennes that fast. The terrain there is why the area was so lightly defended. Using legal moves, if the Germans try to smash through the Ardennes, the Allies will have enough time to move a few units there to stiffen it up.

As a result of that, and getting to the Channel by Turn 6 or so, I handicapped in the Allies favor the GQG for a couple of turns, and allowed a couple of extra reinforcements in for turns 6, 7 and 8. This turned out to be a lot. Too much. By the end of the game, the Germans are stretched so thin, the Allies should be well able to handle the situation.

Another thing the Germans did which was dumb is going after too many exit points. For example, GD and 1 Pz (div) exited South, and they were clearly needed to keep the supply lines open up north. This goes to show it's good to make a plan and stick with it.

It was however, a pretty close thing. Had the Germans stayed in supply, it would have been 14 to 8. The Allies just barely have rail, too. Had they not retaken Arras, it looks like all the rail would have been cut. This would have made the score 18 (10 for cutting rail, 8 for exiting units) to 9 (4 units, 5 for overland supply trace).

The next game I play of this will be a shorter game which handles only the breakthrough across the Meuse. The idea is to see how long the French can hold out before the Germans get a solid crossing. At least three turns I would hope, five turns would be even better. It will be much more difficult for the Germans using the correct, legal movement rates through woods, especially Ardennes and rough terrain.

Improving the Allies strategy

Explore voluntary retreat to allow fast movement to better defensive positions.

Figure out how to use the Allied motorized. These have a lot of strength, and while forting them up can help hold a line, it seems like these units would be better used pestering the Germans in some way.

Blunders

Quite a number, but not surprising given this is a first game.

German

  • Quartered the total attack factors for the Germans attacking northwest of Sedan to across the Muese in Turn 1. This should have been halved for the Germans only once, and the defender doubled only once. This may or may not have affected the odds, but if it did, it almost certainly was a negative effect on the German odds. As per rules, no attack factor can be halved more than once, no defense factor doubled more than once.

  • Forgot to use Extended Movement (7.3) for German movement phase in Turn 1. This may not have matter overmuch as most of the German movement was to initiate combat.

  • Forgot to charge +2 MP to leave EZOC, which probably put me through the Ardennes ahead of time, except that with better play I would not have fiddled around in the EZOCs around Sedan anyway. So it's probably a wash with respect to good game play. Still, need be aware of this going forward.

  • Woods movement costs 2 for mechanized, but the movement cost is not assessed for certain movements.

  • Divisional stacking can exceed 7 points. For example, two panzer divsions can be stacked together.

  • Wooded rough terrain. Stop on entering, mechanized prohibited unless along road. I keep doing this, even as far along a Turn 4. I'll know better for the next game.

  • 3 Step units leave Remnant counters after their second step loss. I forgot about this for 2 French units, so I put a couple of remnants on the map in Charleroi lacking anything better to do with them.

  • Maginot Line cuts German attack strength in half, which I didn't realize. It didn't matter for this game as those German units were too isolated to be effective.

  • Huge blunder: not exiting loads of mechanized through the X points. These only need to be in supply when they exit, not at the end of the game.

Probably the biggest blunder was not getting across the Meuse in the South. This allowed the French to tighten up that line enough to divert incoming reinforcements to the Ardennes.

French/Allies

  • French garrison units in Sickle Cut have their movement in a block box and may not move until Germans are within 2 hexes. I think I violated this rule at least once. However, these are pretty weak units so I don't think it mattered all that much for game play.

  • Keeping too many high quality units too far back. In some ways this is an artifact of having these units under GQG most of the game. Specifically, the first time 2 and 3 DLM came out from under GQG, they didn't do anything, just hung around just west of Namur. They should have at least advanced into a position to cause the Germans some trouble, if not attacking 3 Pz outright. When I figured this out, I was tempted to "mulligan" them forward.

  • Stacking powerful units together ensure the Germans will target exactly those stacks for GQG. Hence, don't stack overly strong units together.

  • Allied units need 3 friendly controlled city hexes for line of supply tracing, not one as I was playing. This would have had an effect in around Namur against the Allies.

  • de Gaulle does NOT get a re-roll, that's only for Rommel and Monty. This blunder probably wouldn't have changed the outcome materially.

Handicapping

Two ways to handicap in the Allies favor are moving the reinforcement schedule "forward" and allow the Allie to bring in one, two or even more extra reinforcements on each turn. Or, keeping the same number of reinforcements, but allow the Allied player to draw, say, one or two extra, choose the most useful for that turn, and throw the remaining back into the reinforcement pool. Another way might be to allow the two Allied air units to play.

From this first play, the Germans don't seem to need any handicapping.

FAQ

This FAQ is built by compiling answers to questions posted on BGG and CSW.

  • Disrupted unit defending in city: "First half, then double. So a Disrupted unit with a printed strength of 3 would have a modified strength of 4 in the city hex."

Notes on winning from BGG

From BGG:

I have played Sickle Cut repeatedly, and trust me it does not feel like less than the full campaign. There are things going on off in the north, and the war continues after the time limit - but the actual campaign in France was all decided right here, right now, in this sector.

The map runs from Namur in the north to first two hexes of the Maginot line in the south, so pretty much only Holland and the far north of the Belgium sector are out of play, along with the completely static Maginot sector in the south.

There is a fight just north of Namur for the Dyle line, of the Germans can choose to shift the 2 Panzer divisions that start there to south of Namur.

There is the fight in the north center where Rommel made his crossing.

There is Guderian's main effort in the south.

Whether and when these sectors merge and interact with one another is the key operational question.

The Germans have multiple ways to win. They need 10 VPs from exit hexes blocked off if the Allies hold a north to south rail line at the end, plus 1 for each full German unit lost. They can get that many with a southern wing victory that crosses just half the map - a "drive on Paris". They can pick up 3 VPs in the north if they drive past Namur, through the Dyle line, pretty close behind that line, and that means in the south they don't need to get as far west to win.

Or they can go for the whole enchilada and try to cut the north south railways at the channel coast. If they succeed in that they are almost certain to win.

Last, they can exit in supply units off the northwest edge toward Dunkirk, without needing to hold the whole north to south "cut" to the time limit. They get 1 VP per unit so exited, and the supply line is only checked when they exit - so even if the line closes up behind them, enough run off the board there will win. With a few entry hexes in the south, exiting 3 mobile divisions that way will also win.

The Germans can try for any subset of those - the Allies need to stop all of them.

The German face a very tough "clock" - only 10 turns.

In my experience, if the Germans know what they are doing and coordinate their attacks well, if can take 3-4 turns to get going but then they will break the French line, somewhere, beyond immediate repair. They typically get the breakthrough about half way through, or a little after.

But that alone isn't enough to win - they have to "cash it" in one of those definite ways. Getting close to two of those ways won't cut it.

The French have a real ability to hit back, and must turns on how actively they use it. If they just backpeddle and patch a line together, they will be a punching bag and break apart. They need to run risks to get their own licks in.

What is driving that is that the CRT is very favorable to attackers, when all the opportunities to gather shifts are included. The Germans get quality and air just about everywhere, every turn. They get armor rarely - terrain and French armor mostly neutralize that possible shift - but occasionally. 2 quality vs remnants also occasionally.

The French can get auto armor shifts in the open from their heavy tank DRC divisions, and HQ artillery shifts. Sometimes they face a QL shift against them, if they are hitting German panzer formations. Against infantry and motorized they can readily get the armor shift even without having a DCR division around.

This means 4-1 odds are easily in reach bringing only equal number of factors in 2 hexes to hit 1. And odds that high almost always force a defender retreat (or determined defense to neutralize it, at a risk of extra losses and 50-50 success etc). The big thing is any stack "pushed" with a retreat result is disrupted on its next turn - meaning it only moves 2 hexes and can't move next to enemies or attack. So a panzer divison forced back even a short distance is out of the fight for 10% of the clock. Believe me, that matters.

Overall, the scenario definitely favors the Germans, in my opinion. But it isn't the same way every time. There is too much early variation from success or failure crossing the strong Meuse position (Guderian will get across, everywhere else it is dicey and can take 2-3 turns), from where the French put their initially strong forces to make it hard for the Germans to attack, from different German decisions about what to shoot for, etc.

If the Germans always just go for the channel coast, then the Allies have a solid chance of stopping them just because it is a long way to get in a short period of time, and that far from the start line a lot of the German (infantry) army won't help very much. But they don't have to make that choice - they have options, and each plays out its own way.

FWIW... </blockquote>

Previous:
Next:
Tags

What to play next?

Deciding what to play next is always a tough call when faced with a closet full of games, all of which were purchased with intent to play. Here's one I'm dealing with the decision.

  • Something New: this means both something new to me and a game which has been published recently, within the last two or three years.
  • Something Classic: I've acquired a number of games properly considered "classic" which haven't yet been played. The current example would be PanzerGruppe Guderian.
  • Something Again: mastery requires constant practice, which means playing games many, many times to allow nuance to appear.
  • Something Vietnam: as I'm on a Vietnam binge. I don't have all the Vietnam games ever published, but I can say that I have a lot of them, and probably more than most people.
  • Something Obscure: as it's fun to poke around in the dustier corners of game design.
  • Something Different: break away from the same old publishers and try a game from one of the new kids on the block. Or, conversely, dip into legacy with a classic tried and true.
  • Something Light: once in a while it's nice to actually finish a game all the way through in one sitting, in an hour or two.
  • Something Heavy: if possible, it's nice to set up something big and complicated which can be left out for days or weeks or even months, for a leisurely stroll through a very large or long game.

There are surely many more ways to choose, but the above method keeps me busy enough, helps me get both breadth and depth into my play, and provides me with a sense of progress.

The odd man out

When there is an odd man out:

  • Have a solo game ready to play.
  • Keep score or advise on a game in progress.
  • Referee a game in progress.