Tag Archives: Europa

Set-Up!…..Play?

Boardgames, Sessions, World War II,

Here’s a pic of the set-up for Empire Reborn.

The blank counters are divisions that may or may not remain loyal to the government.  My thoughts are whatever units do not remain loyal will have another die roll to determine if their opposition is active or passive.

I also need to work through the readiness/mobilization process.  The current set-up has the Yugoslavians and Bulgarians already mobilized as divisions (except for aforementioned “blank” counters), the Romanians as cadres and Hungarians without divisional units, just brigades etc.    My instinct for my first play thru (and path of least resistance) is to allow everyone to mobilize as well as form divisional units.   Just focus on the operational aspects.

I’ll have time to ponder these weighty questions.  Another road trip looms…….

Structure…..However Flimsy

Boardgames, Sessions,

The hypothetical 1938 Balkan conflict (Empire Reborn) now has some parameters.  Maybe not the best, but at least some structure.

My latest efforts focused on victory conditions that, in turn, involved identifying the regions and ethnicities involved.

Balkan Front addresses the latter consideration with a  map outlining the area’s regions.

Unfortunately, I cannot find Map 14A (as well as all my War In The Desert counters – a collateral discovery while searching for maps).  But, I did find a scan of 14A which helped me work with my old Marita-Merker maps.

Decided to simplify matters by using control of a city or cities (shown below in parentheses) as objectives for each country.

Bulgaria’s  territorial objectives are  Northern Macedonia (Skopje) and Southern Dobruja (Varna and Pleven).  The Hungarian objectives are Transylvania (Cluj and Timpsora) and the Backa region (Novi Sad). Both Romania and Yugoslavia must  maintain their current borders.

Late in this process I recognized the maps reflect 1941 national boundaries.  In 1940’s  Treaty of Craiova, Romania’s ceded Southern Dobruja to Bulgaria.  The initial placement of each nation’s forces has to be adjusted accordingly.

The initial placement of units, like the order of battle (OB), is speculative and uses multiple less-than-reliable sources.  The composition and size of each country’s military changed significantly from 1938 to the opening of Barbarossa campaign in 1941 -where reliable OB information can be found.  “Educated Guess Work” is giving the OB process the benefit of the doubt.

Since the whole project is hypothetical and speculative, I decided to flesh out each country’s forces with some specialized units.  The inclusion of limited air, anti-aircraft, armor and engineer assets provides an opportunity to work with a wider variety of the Barbarossa  Unleashed rules. These rules will also be used in the Operation Groza game with Tim.

Additional scenario considerations now include guerilla warfare by disaffected minorities, the use of Balkan Front’s Yugoslavian mobilization guidelines in which certain regions – and the units based there – openly oppose Yugoslavia, and a variable game length  based on the Macedonia War (which helped inspire this entire twisted process) scenario published in Europa Magazine.

Need to get this moving so I can start pushing cardboard.

Hypothetical Trend Continues – Empire Reborn

Boardgames, Sessions,

I’ve dredged up another hypothetical scenario, this time using the Europa system and New  Europa components.

I first started thrashing with this Central European/Balkan scenario several years ago.  Here’s a link to the post explaining this recurring bout of madness.

As emphasized in my earlier post, Europa purists should disregard anything with the “Empire Reborn” tag.

Over the past week I’ve revisited old resources, found (after a hunk and peck household search) the appropriate Europa maps,  and downloaded additional information including limited orders of battle.

Given what I have, it’s safe to say this is not going to be a simulation.

Regardless, it will be fun to push counters for countries that are either victims and/or after-thought cannon fodder allies of the major WW2 powers.

“Red” is the working name for a Bulgaria-Hungary alliance, aided and abetted by Germany, Italy, Albania and the Croat minority in Yugoslavia.

The “Blue” alliance will be Yugoslavia and Romania, with assistance (in some form) from France, Greece, Turkey, Poland and Czechoslovakia.

Where the Soviet Union fits into all of this is a damn good question.

The time frame is early 1938, with the assumption(s) that Germany, France, and Poland focused on Czechoslovakia , with German and Italian resources tied up in Spain.  The Austrian Anschluss has occurred, but the incorporation of Austrian forces into the Wehrmacht is still in progress.

One (and there are many) aspect that needs immediate attention is the victory conditions.  Each alliance had specific territorial ambitions.  The problem is to translate these regions/areas from sources and identify them on Europa maps.  Like the rest of this project, “vague” is an operating principle.

Groza – Even More Momentum

Boardgames, Sessions, World War II,

Tim finished his setup.  He pointed out the airfield capacity in urban hexes is three units rather than the six used in the Europa Second Front rules.   A quick shifting of several  German air assets, and my setup is complete.

Now for the fun!  Tim anticipates continuing his (Soviet) pre-Surprise Attack steps (there are ten) this week.  Steps 5-10 include flipping four armored/motorized cadres to full strength and all 3-6 infantry divisions to their 4-6 sides; placing the June II Turn reinforcements; planning special operations; a special movement and exploitation phase; designating NKVD units as “Spetsnaz” units;  and, finally, the  Soviet Jul I player turn.

Here are shots of the North of Warsaw and South of Warsaw front-line deployments before Steps 5-10.

Groza’s Gaining Momentum

Boardgames, Sessions, World War II

Tim finished up the heavy lifting.  He dug into the OBs and put together the ground combat counters for Operation Groza – the Soviet’s hypothetical pre-emptive 1941 offensive against Germany. My job was to create the air units.

With this work complete, I set up the initial Axis dispositions.  Since the scenario is set in June/July 1941, the deployments are for an offensive, not one anticipating an attack.

Tim had to return my work due to my inability to follow the map’s boundary adjustments reflecting the two Vienna Awards, which changed Hungary’s and Romania’s borders.  It took a few attempts, but I think (haven’t heard anything recently…..he might have given up in disgust) it is now OK.  I can’t vouch for it militarily, since it is the classic case of too much frontage and too few units (are there ever enough?).

We plan to use the new Barbarossa Unleashed (BU) rules drafted up by John Astell and posted out on the Europa forum.  There may be instances where we have to go back to the old Scorched Earth rule set.  This will probably involve air unit replacement and production guidelines.  We’re also ready to try BU’s new optional Combat Results Table (CRT) and variable overrun rules.

Here’s screenshot of my northern dispositions.  How I yearn for low counter density!

This Should Be Fun

Boardgames, Sessions, World War II

Finally developing momentum getting Operation Groza, a Europa variant published way-too-long-ago in The Europa Magazine 23, to the virtual table.

Tim’s doing the heavy lifting, providing the JET module, Scorched Earth rules, and scans of the appropriate magazine pages with orders of battles, deployments, and special rules.

JET was/is an interesting creature.  Developed by Europa enthusiasts in Finland, it has fallen by the wayside (as has Europa) over the past couple of decades (gulp!  that long!).  Graphics are very crude by Vassal standards, but it is a good, intuitive, platform.  Tim and I used it in our Fall Of France game.

I’m heading out to The Sunfish Capital Of The World next week, so this will be an excellent off-site wargaming endeavor.

A New Mess

Boardgames, World War II

Getting close to covering all household horizontal surfaces with wargame related items.

Europa Purists may not want to read any further.

The  is the resource hodge podge assembled for my latest foray into out of kilter Europa scenarios, following in the steps of Fall Gertrude and the “Switzerland Must Be Swallowed” scenario pre-dating this blog.

As with any catastrophe, this one has several causes.  They are, in no particular order, an email exchange with Tim Davis, the publisher of Fall Grun and Empire Reborn, a chance encounter with The Europa Magazine (TEM) #57, and glance at my copy of East Central Europe Between The Two World Wars.

Empire Reborn posits a Romanian-Hungarian conflict in the wake of the Munich Pact.  TEM #57 contains a Macedonian War scenario developed by Frank Watson, portraying a 1940 Bulgarian invasion of Yugoslavia.

Both scenarios are based on ethnic/cultural/geographic grievances which (although centuries old) were the immediate products of the Balkan Wars and World War I.   It is a long and twisted story resulting – as best I can figure – in the following.

Hungary wanted to regain Transylvania from Roumania, and the Backa and Prekmurje regions from newly created Yugoslavia.  Bulgaria wanted much,if not all, of Macedonia from Yugoslavia, and to regain Dobruja from Roumania.

Hungarian revanchism was a result of the Treaty of Trianon (1920), which stripped the country of  land, ethnic Hungarians and resources.  This desire to regain what was lost led  to the creation of the Little Entente between Czechoslovakia, Yugoslovia and Roumania.

Greece, Turkey, Roumania and Yugoslavia reacted to Bulgaria’s territorial grievances by signing the Balkan Pact (1934).  The Pact was intended to maintain the region’s territorial status quo and peacefully solve any differences.

So, I am now ready to begin what Mr. Watson characterized  as “wandering in the Balkan darkness….” in explaining why he limited the scope of his Macedonian scenario.

I will, however, take his guidance and set my scenario in 1940, as “(it) provides a convenient way to do away with great power meddling.”

The shortest distance between two points is to assume a Hungarian and Bulgarian alliance (whatever form that might take) aimed at Yugoslavia and Roumania, all that was left of the Little Entente.

Most available order of battle information begins in 1941, but there are enough  fragmentary sources to take a pretty good guess at 1940.  In each case, the combatants were modernizing and reorganizing their armed forces.

What the hell….it’s worth a try.

Terminally Serious

Boardgames, Sessions,

Our Fall of France game ended during  the recent posting hiatus.  Here’s a screen shot of situation when I conceded.  Ugly.

Tim did a great job of applying unrelenting pressure on a broad front.  He might argue this pressure was too dispersed, but, in the end, his operational approach worked.  Yes, I held out longer than my historical counterpart(s), but the end result was still the same; a French defeat.

This broad, sustained pressure precluded any  concentration for a decisive counterattack, given the Allies’  slender armor and tactical air resources.  Every unit was needed to plug the recurring holes in a shallow defensive line.  The combination of tactical air, armor and strong infantry divisions capable of absorbing punishment was just too great.

A strategic withdrawal in the south would have been an option.  But, a passive surrender of French territory would be politically unthinkable, even though not a real game consideration in terms of victory points lost.

On second thought, maybe the end result wasn’t “the same”.  The British Army is still on the Continent.  No Dunkirk, no evacuation to fight another day.  With this outcome, the entire course of the war changes.  Negotiated settlement?   An interesting “what if” that has started a soft and gentle Siren’s Call to start up a session of A World At War or Blitz.

Now is a good time to replace those entryway lights…………

 

It Gets Serious: May II Turn

Boardgames, Sessions, World War II,

These screenshots summarize the May II Turn.

 

German armor sweeps past the weak ad-hoc French defenses and advances towards the Marne.  Also, the German commander turns loose “Ants” to disrupt the Allied rear areas.  To the north, German forces grind up the Dutch and Belgians,  advancing to the Dyle Line.

The Allies rush armored/mechanized units to contain the Ardennes penetration, while withdrawing from the Dyle line, using Belgian forces in support.  The Dutch attempt to consolidate their defense in order to tie down German forces for as long as possible.