Let's Play Fall Gelb (Allied #6 - To the Dyle!)

Fall Gelb - The Battle for the Low Countries 1940 is a user-created scenario for the wonderful Battles in Italy game, made by Aussie wargame developer Strategic Studies Group. It is the third game in the Decisive Battles of World War II series, after Korsun Pocket and Battles in Normandy.

While the stock game comes with three scenarios (Sicily, Salerno and Anzio), the community has crafted a number of user-created scenarios. Fall Gelb is probably the most ambitious and polished one, with a beautiful map and a great attention to detail. For more information about this scenario, see here (RECOMMENDED READ).

The scenario is huge - not Barbarossa-huge but still, there are a lot of units as it covers the whole action from Holland to Luxembourg. Because of this, I'm not gonna try to cover the whole campaign but rather to focus on the more interesting parts, which will provide occasions for me to explain the game mechanics.

There may be a game-stopping bug at some point, something about the Belgian supply dumps which would stop working at some point but we'll see if that happens in our game. Also, I'm using TinyPic/Photobucket as image host - here's hoping they don't go Imageshack on us.

But let's start by taking a look at the briefing:



Thanks to historical hindsight, we know where the German main thrust in going to be (the Ardennes forest), and we know the Dyle Plan was a mistake - or at the very least its northernmost component, which sent the French 7th Army to the Breda area. We're going to use that knowledge to try to come up with a better plan, although the game has some mechanics which prevent the Allied player from being completely advantaged by historical hindisght.

Be aware that I'm playing against a very experienced opponent who I managed to beat in our last game (Normandy scenario). So he's gonna be out for blood, and the scenario still heavily favors the Axis (especially because of the incredibly high movement rate of their units). Moreover, and altough I know the engine well, I've only played this particular scenario once as the Axis, and against a much weaker opponent. Thankfully, my opponent also has a limited experience with this scenario, so we shoudl be more or less on equal grounds there.

I'll try to update this thread with the first turn before the end of the week.

Chapters

OOB Allies
OOB Axis

Game mechanics - Interface, units, movement and supply
Game mechanics - Combat

Turn 1 (Axis) - Let the Blitzkrieg begin!
Turn 1 (Allied) - Race to the Meuse
Turn 2 (Axis) - The fog starts to lift
Turn 2 (Allied) - Waiting for the shock
Turn 3 (Axis) - Encounter on the Meuse
Turn 3 (Allied) - Bracing for impact

An MP match, eh. Go on.

Ah, this is going to be fun!

Before checking the OOB, let's take a look at the battlefield (sorry if it's not very readable, I'm just getting used to Photoshop ):



Surrender rule: The scenario creator has set a surrender rule for Holland and Belgium. For Holland, the Germans need only to take Rotterdam to trigger the surrender of the whole Dutch army (pretty unavoidable, I would be happy if I could hold 5 turns). As for the Belgians, the panzer will need to take Antwerp, Brussels and Brugge to get the Belgian army to surrender. Obviously, I'm going to try to hold these city as long as possible so I can keep the brave Belgians at my side.

Cities: most medium and major cities provide Victory Points (VPs) for each turn they are held by the Allies, in order to give him an incentive to hold as long as possible Belgium and northern France. However, the Axis' main source of VPs will be destroying Allied units. At some point, it becomes possible for the Allies to embark a limited number of troops each turn in Dunkirk and Calais and to send them to England, thereby denying the Germans the VPs they would gain if they destroy them. ideally, we will hold our own and not have to do this but if all else fails...

Rivers: in Battles in Italy, there is a difference between major and minor rivers. The former obviously provide more cover for the defender and are much more difficult to cross without a bridge (only leg units can do it at a high movement cost). The latter provide less defensive cover and can be crossed by any unit, albeit with a penalty. In this scenario, there are only five major rivers: the Rhine and the Waal in Holland, the Escaut (Schelde in Dutch) and Meuse in Belgium, and the Somme in France. Those last three are going to be the most useful ones for us.

Gembloux Gap: a stretch of clear terrain between Brussels and Namur, it is where the Allied high command expected the main German thrust.

Maginot Line: covering the whole German and Luxemburgish border, as well as a small portion of the Belgian border until near Sedan, this area is heavily fortified and shouldn't be attacked - unless my opponent tries something new. Provided he doesn't, I'll try to send as many divisions as possible posted in this area toward Sedan as soon as I can.

Note: Holland is not very detailed because it is very unlikely that it will hold for more than five turns (in my last game as the Germans, I captured Rotterdam on turn 4).


For reference, here is a historical map of what really happened:

The historical route for your opponent is naturally the most enticing one, though it is also the most obvious. Could it be possible for him to try a coastal flanking move instead? In essence, he would divide his panzer formations into two, one blitzing through Holland and then down the coast, while the second one goes through Ardennes and then to Sedan. Linking those two would encircle most of your army. Of course I don't know the game mechanics so can't estimate how viable such a plan is. It would also leave both prongs vulnerable to counter-attacks, much more so than the historical advance.

GarfunkeL said:

The historical route for your opponent is naturally the most enticing one, though it is also the most obvious. Could it be possible for him to try a coastal flanking move instead? In essence, he would divide his panzer formations into two, one blitzing through Holland and then down the coast, while the second one goes through Ardennes and then to Sedan. Linking those two would encircle most of your army. Of course I don't know the game mechanics so can't estimate how viable such a plan is. It would also leave both prongs vulnerable to counter-attacks, much more so than the historical advance.

Click to expand...

The coastal flanking move would be a bold one, but it would also be very difficult to pull off for several reasons:

1. Because of the surrender rule, the Axis player has to devote all of the 18th Army to a mad race toward Rotterdam, in order to get the Dutch to surrender as quickly as possible.

2. That means that until the 18th Army can join in, the coastal pincer force would have to be fielded by the panzerdivisionen of the 6th Army. In turn, the attack on Maastricht and subsequent dash toward Gembloux would have to be shifted to the weaker 4th Army - and all those shifting movements would kill the Axis' main advantage in Belgium: its ability to strike fast and encircle surprised Belgian units posted on the canal Albert. Of course, the central push toward Gembloux could be abandoned altogether, which would make for an interesting ahistorical scenario.

3. However, the coastal pincer force would have to face numerous Belgian divisions around Antwerp, which is very easy to defend (urbain terrain). The only bridge over the Escaut estuary is at Antwerp, and would probably prove to be a blocking point for the panzers if properly defended. There are other bridges south, at Willebroek and Mechelen, but taking them would divert the coastal flanking force from the coast. Moreover, depending on the choices made by the Allied player, the French 7th Army could be in the area too.

Here are two pics of the Antwerp area if you want to get an idea of the situation (without units) + starting Allied forces there (the blue division on the left is the front unit of the French 7th Army - the 1st Light Mechanised Division):




And for an overview of the German forces, here's the Axis briefing:

Very interesting, thanks for that. I agree that the terrain around Antwerp makes my suggestion seem pretty far-fetched. Good luck z o o l!

Now, let's take a closer look at the Allied OOB. Please refer yourself to the Allied briefing in the first post to visualize where each army starts. Also, don't pay attention to all the "Res" signs under most of the units - they are those who start the game in a "surprised" state (cannot move for the first turn) but are not strictly speaking in reserve. The only troops that are not yet on the map are the reddish ones with a "+ x" under their icon, indicating in how many turns they will show up at the map's borders.

The Dutch army is divided into two entities. First is Fortress Holland, the main body of the Dutch Army. It protects the most obvious invasion route to Holland's main cities (Rotterdam, Amsterdam, the Hague): the corridor between the Rhine to the south and the Zuiderzee to the north.




Then the East Front, loosely protecting the cities to the south of the Rhine and Waal rivers.




The Belgian army is similarly organized into two bodies: the GHQ...




... and the Cavalry Corps. Note that the 1st Ardense Jagers Division, an elite division, starts the game guarding a few crossroads in the Ardennes (St Vith, Bastogne...) and is usually nearly wiped out by the advancing panzerdivisionen in the first turn.




The glorious French army™ is divided into six separate armies and a general reserve.

From north to south, we first have the 7th Army, headed by general Giraud. Note the two regiments of the Zeeland Command: those are actually Dutch troops but to simulate the fact that these regiments continued to fight even after the Dutch governement surrendered, the scenario creator had no other choice than to tag them as French (so they wouldn't surrender with the rest of the Dutch army when Rotterdam is taken).

But back to the 7th Army: it is quite light (7 divisions) but very mobile (1 Light Mechanized Division and 2 Motorized Infantry Division). It goal was to reach the Breda area and help out the Dutch. That, we will not do.

Also, please note that I will be using French acronyms instead of English ones for French divisions:
Light Mechanized Division = Division Légère Mécanisée (DLM)
Motorized Infantry Division = Division d'Infanterie Motorisée (DIM)
Armored Division = Division Cuirassée (DCR)
and a few others I will detail along the way. When I simply refer to a unit as "Xth Division", assume it's just a standard non-motorized infantry division.




The 1st French Army, headed by general Blanchard, is the most powerful one, with a grand total of 11 divisions including the 2nd and 3rd DLM and the 1st DCR - our main armored corps in the area. Its goal was to cover the Gembloux Gap, seen as the weakest point in the Dyle Plan. We'll see later what we'll do with it.




The 9th French Army, headed by general Corap, was the one tasked with guarding most of the Meuse river. It took the brunt of the German attack in the Ardennes. Composed mostly of second-rate infantry divisions (except for two cavalry divisions), it essentially ceased to exist as a coherent unit very early into the battle. We'll see if we can put it to a better use this time.




The French 2nd Army, under general Huntziger (who later signed the armistice on June 22nd), guards the area south of Luxembourg. It is likely to be left unattacked, and we will try to take as many units as possible from this army to send it west to Sedan.




The 3rd French Army is powerful... and useless, entrenched as it is behind the Maginot line. We'll send all of its reserves west asap. It also comprises a British division.




Only a small part of the French 4th Army is present on the map, hence its weakness. It guards the easternmost sector.




The French General Reserve. Mainly composed of standard infantry divisions, it is not very powerful and arrive quite late in the game (the scenario has 24 turns in total). Better not to count on it too much.




And finally the proud British Expeditionary Force. It has powerful units but suffer from two major weaknesses: they are slow as death, and have a severe lack of armor. They make very good defenders though.




If you have any questions to ask, don't hesitate. I'll post the German OOB tomorrow, as well as my opponent first turn if I got enough time.

And now for the German OOB, from north to south. Once again, please take a look at the Axis briefing above to get a sense of each army's starting location and objective.


The 18th Army's goal is to take Rotterdam as quickly as possible, thereby triggering the Dutch surrender. Once done, it can shift its attention south to Belgium - or possibly be rerouted by train and roads to a more southern location.
It only has one panzerdivision (thereafter Pz-Div), the 9th Pz-Div, as well as the elite independent LAH motorized regiment. We will see next that it also has another elite unit, as well as the support of paratroopers.




The Army Gruppe B Heergruppen provides additional support for the 18th Army, with the elite SS Verfugungs motorized division, as well as the 7th Flieger Division landing near Rotterdam - and soon to be reinforced by the airlifted 22nd Luftlande Division.. The lone 7th Flieger Division detachment is used further south, at Eben Emael...




The 6th Army's objective is to cross the Rhine at Maastricht and advance in the plains towards Brussels, Namur and Charleroi. It will also try to pocket as many surprised Belgian units as possible. Although it is a diversion force, its strength should not be underestimated, as it can deal a lot of damage in open terrain. The 3rd and 4th Pz-Div form its shockforce, with the support of the 20th Motorized Division.




Progressing in the northern part of the Ardennes forest, the 4th Army will move west virtually unopposed until it reaches the Meuse. At that point, the Axis player can choose to use it south of Namur, to protect the northern flank of the main German thrust in the Ardennes. He can also choose to cross the Meuse east of Namur, in order to cut off Belgian divisions retreating from Liege. With the 5th and 7th Pz-Div, it is a powerful force, although its infantry might find it difficult to catch up with Rommel leading the way.




The 12th Army starts in the center of the Ardennes: it doesn't have any mechanized or motorized division, and its infantry will therefore serve as a support for the 4th Army and the Kleist Gruppe. Its best unit is the elite 1st Gerbigsjager Division.




Lo and behold the mighty Kleist Gruppe! No less than five Pz-Div, supported by one motorized division - and two others will join on turn 2. Among independent units, you can also spot the Gross Deutschland (GD) regiment and the Lehr recon battalion. We'll need to divide this force before we can even think of confronting it - something easier said than done.




Army Gruppe A can also count on the support of this Heergruppen. Of particular note is the SS Totenkopf motorized division arriving on turn 6, which is very similar in its composition to the SS Verfugungs division operating with the 18th Army up north in Holland.




The all-infantry 16th Army will push south of Luxembourg, trying to tie up as many French units as possible.




The 1st Army guards the German border in the easternmost sector of the map. It will see little action, and my opponent will likely try to free up one or two divisions from this area to send further west.




The anecdotal Heergruppen of Army Gruppe C provides support for the 16th and 1st Army.

png, 24 bit and grainy, noisy pictures make for a hell of a bandwidth test...

How important is aviation in this game ? If I remember my history well, the Stuka bombers played a a large role in the success of the Blitz.

Black Bart Charley said:

png, 24 bit and grainy, noisy pictures make for a hell of a bandwidth test...

Click to expand...

Sorry about that. Which format do you recommend?

How important is aviation in this game ? If I remember my history well, the Stuka bombers played a a large role in the success of the Blitz.

Click to expand...

It is very important and is simulated in the game with the following mechanics:

1. Aerial interdiction - players can place several aerial interdiction counters with a large radius, thereby making movement costs on roads and railways much higher than normal in the area affected. In effect, this can nearly prevent a unit from moving and, more importantly, prevent any supply from going through the area. This effect can be somewhat lowered if a friendly AA unit is in the area (movement and supply penalty is lower).

2. Regular air support - during a battle between two units, the attacking side can choose to assign air support - if he has enough left - in order to improve his battle odds. More on that later when I get to explain how battles work.

3. Special carpet bombing attacks - on turn 4 and 5, the Axis get a handful of special carpet bombing attacks which deal enormous damage to the defender. The Axis player usually uses them to help the Kleist Gruppe cross the Meuse, though I've already seen it used on Rotterdam to subdue the Dutch defenders.

There are no proper "plane" units in the game. The number of aerial interdiction counters and regular air support the player gets each turn depends on the scenario and the weather.

jpg

I dont know which util you use ( to screen cap or batch resize or whatever you do with the pictures before upload ) so I cant say anything about the options.
Photoshops "save for web" gives a solid quality jpgs with the "jpeg high" option but the quality slider turned down to 50.
IrfanView "save for web" gives good enough quality in the 60ties of the slider position.

But if its to much hassle, Ill just ignore you for a while. =P

Going to be funny if both of you stripe the Maginot-life of defenders , thereby creating the perfect opportunity for breach/counter-attack there!

How is the allied airforce and tanks compared to ze German ones? IRL it was supposedly bigger but spread out.

How is leadership represented? Will you have to deal with incompetent imbeciles from the French command?

Finally do tell us what is your battleplan.

Malakal said:

Finally do tell us what is your battleplan.

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Don't do it!!!!



Also, .

Go forth and incline the shit out of this weaboo forum.

Malakal said:

How is the allied airforce and tanks compared to ze German ones? IRL it was supposedly bigger but spread out.

How is leadership represented? Will you have to deal with incompetent imbeciles from the French command?

Finally do tell us what is your battleplan.

Click to expand...

1. A quick recount shows that the Allied have:

- 4 Armored Divisions (DCR) - all of them French, and half of them have only three regiments (no recon unit)
- 3 Mechanized Divisions (DLM) - all of them French too
- 16 independent armored battalions/regiments - French, English and Belgian

The Germans have:

- 10 Armored Divisions (Pz-Div)
- 7 independent armored battalions - mostly Stugs

So, the spreading out of Allied armor is shown by the higher number of independent battalions/regiments in the Allied OOB. Nonetheless, you will come to realize that the Germans Pz-Div are more powerful than their French counterparts and, more importantly, much more mobile (sometimes more than twice as much). They can therefore easily outmanoeuvre and encircle French units.


2. Leadership is not represented in the game, so I'll be the only one to blame if things go wrong, though unlucky dice rolls during battles can be nasty too. Actually, it would be more proper to say that poor French leadership is simulated in the game through the poor placement of starting troops and the fact that many Allied units are surprised (i.e can't move) on the first turn. Additionnally, each side can get as many as 4 "commander" assets each turn, which can be used during a battle to get better odds. The Germans get 4 by turn while the French only get 2. In terms of usefulness, they're similar to the "regular air support" assets I mentioned in my previous post.


3. I'll detail my battle plan soon, but let's keep in mind the Gamelin law: "No battle plan stands after the first contact with the enemy". However, I'll try to stick to my original plan as much as possible, provided my opponent follows the historical German plan.

GarfunkeL said:

Going to be funny if both of you stripe the Maginot-life of defenders , thereby creating the perfect opportunity for breach/counter-attack there!

Click to expand...

That would be fun indeed, though if the Axis player chooses to attack there, he will find his area of manoeuvre to be somewhat restricted by the map's bottom right edges.

overtenemy said:

Go forth and incline the shit out of this weaboo forum.

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My feelings exactly. Between all the DA2 crap and JRPG faggotry, I figured the 'Dex could use some incline with real games for real men™.

Though playing as the French rather than the Nazis is a little faggy I must admit.

Just try the original Escaut maneuver; occupy the line of the Escaut river which will also take into account the defence of Antwerp and Ghent. Free up that mass de maneuver! The French 7th army, along with any other mobile/armoured forces you can scrounge up seems like a nice first step. Don't skimp on the AA if you have some spare; you don't want them bogged down...

So long as you can create a decent defensive line there, while having the mobile reserve ready...and so long as he doesn't ready his airforce for such a plan, you can let the panzers break through, then cut them off with the mobile reserve. However, since I am unfamiliar on how supply works and how long panzer divisions have before they are useless (after cut supply line), perhaps you should just use that force to plug any gaps or create your own attack somewhere.

In any case, excellent incline of the Codex.

Thanks Blackadder. I'm planning on re-using part of the Escaut maneuver, a bit more on that later...

First, let's check what the historical plan, called the Dyle-Breda maneuver, looked like in terms of defensive lines:



And for reference, I extracted from the briefing screen the map showing armies movements (the yellow line corresponds to what I called the "2nd line of defence" in the picture above):




As you can see, the Allied command didn't expect much action on the Meuse and Maginot line. The goal was to enter Belgium and fight the German forces there, while the 7th Army would go lend a hand to the Dutch, going as far north as Breda. The Belgians would try to hold as long as possible on the Albert canal. In case of a Dutch surrender, the main line of defence would follow the Escaut estuary, Dyle river, Meuse river and then the Maginot line. The gap between the Dyle and the Meuse, called the Gembloux gap, was thought to be where the main fight would take place. If things went wrong, the orders where to execute a fighting withdrawal toward the Escaut river.

We all know what happened then...

Blackadder said:

So long as you can create a decent defensive line there, while having the mobile reserve ready...and so long as he doesn't ready his airforce for such a plan, you can let the panzers break through, then cut them off with the mobile reserve. However, since I am unfamiliar on how supply works and how long panzer divisions have before they are useless (after cut supply line), perhaps you should just use that force to plug any gaps or create your own attack somewhere.

Click to expand...

By the way, I counted three conditions for this plan to work in your first sentence alone.

My plan will be much less bold, yet not completely devoid of risk either. And the fact that it's the first time I'm playing this scenario as the Allies means that I'm noteven sure if it's feasible. More details coming soon.

The Senne-Meuse plan

Let's examine in details the possible courses of action we can take to deal with what is doubtlessly the main threat to the Allies: panzergruppe von Kleist. I will break down what it did historically into three phases:

Phase 1: Progression in the Ardennes forest - nothing we can do about that, we have next to zero units in the area. It's a shame because the dense forests make it a very good terrain for defense.

Phase 2: Crossing of the Meuse - once done with the precedent phase, panzergruppe Kleist must cross the Meuse. The Meuse is a large river, and cannot be crossed by tank and mechanized units. Therefore, the Pz-Div need to capture bridges intact, or to repair them if they've been destroyed, or to deploy pontoons to cross the river. Finally, they need to push back the French defenders.

Phase 3: Final breakthrough and subsequent exploitation - once phase 2 is done and several crossings over the Meuse have been secured, Kleist can take its Pz-Div to full speed toward the sea - and at that point, there are only plains (and no rivers) on his way. The breakthrough his done, and victory is at hand for the Germans. At that point, it's only a question of destroying as many Allied units as possible and, if possible, to capture Boulogne, Dunkerque and Calais before the BEF and misc French units have time to reembark to the UK, which could result in a draw.


As I pointed out, there is nothing we can do about phase 1.

Some of you have suggested that we let the Germans get to phase 3, and then trap their exposed units. Sounds like a good idea but in my opinion, it only sounds like one. As you will see when the game starts, concentrated German aerial interdiction with no friendly AA units in the area - and needless to say I'm never gonna have enough of them to cover the whole front - can pretty much bring to a halt any ambitious Allied maneuvering. Moreover, the Pz-Div have roughly twice as much movement capability as my DCR and DLM: letting them breakthrough is a bold move that could yield immense reward. Still, I don't think I'm gonna take that risk: essentially, this would be betting that a hyena can catch up with a cheetah - and it would still have to kill it.

This leaves us with phase 2 - the Meuse crossing. It was the trickiest part of Manstein plan, and I intend to show him that it was maybe a little bit too risky. I'm gonna be rushing troops to the Meuse, and a lot will depend on whether they can hold out long enough against panzergruppe Kleist for reinforcements to arrive.
To this end, the two northernmost French armies (1st and 7th) and the BEF will change their original plans, which stated that they were to drive northeast. Instead, they will rotate 90° to their right and drive southeast. The Belgian army will be cut off in two by the advance of the German 6th Army: the main body of Belgian forces will defend a line behind the Escaut and the Senne rivers from Antwerp to southwest of Bruxelles, while the remains of the Cavalry Corps will retreat from Liege toward Namur and Charleroi. The 7th French Army will take position behind the Senne-Sombre canal, and the BEF will dig up well behind the Gembloux gap. I'll try to keep a reserve force behind this line, in the (likely) scenario where the 6th German Army manages to break through - always a good occasion to destroy that exposed enemy recon unit.
The 1st Army will take responsibility for defending the Meuse crossings between Namur and Charleville-Mézières, on a north-south axis. When Namur falls (which should be pretty quick), it will retreat a bit in order to avoir forming a bulge. The 9th Army will do everything it can to hold Sedan, and will hopefully receive some well-needed support from every unit we can free up from the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Army which are entrenched behind the Maginot line.

Drawing upon a pessimistic assumption - there is no way I can outmaneuver the German Pz-Div - I'm actually hoping to turn this battle into a static battle, or at least a war of attrition. If Kleist nonetheless breaks into the plains west of Sedan, I have no idea how I will stop him, considering that my troops are slower than his and that I don't have nearly as much aerial interdiction as needed to seriously disrupt his supply.

The main risk we're taking is that we're gonna be rushing troops to the Meuse, and if they don't have enough time to take proper position, they could get mowed down by the Kleist gruppe without having been able to stop him. However, I really don't feel comfortable waiting for the panzers in the plains west of Sedan.

Obviously, my battle plan - thereafter dubbed the "Senne-Meuse plan" - is also drawn upon the assumption that my opponent will replicate the historical German plan. If he does not (attacking the Maginot Line, shifting to a Schlieffen-type plan, ...), I'll have to come up with something new.

So here's what my current plan looks like (the red dots on Antwerp, Brussels and Charleroi denote cities that we're gonna fortify as much as possible, using minefields to cover the approaches):

Seems like a sensible, solid plan. And yeah, if the mobility situation is really that bleak, you shouldn't count on any brilliant high-speed counter-attacks at all. Historically, a static line of fighting across northern France and/or Belgium would have suited the Allies just fine.

Very interesting. I'll be watching this, even though my support lies with the Axis player.

Thanks guys. Seems that there is a severe lack of wargamers on these boards though - ah well, it's called RPG Codex after all.

Expect an update soon, with an analysis of my opponent's first turn and some explanations of game mechanics.