Another day, another set of Dominion rules. I felt that I'd given the RCW and Marlburian rules a fair crack, and I was keen to try some other ones. I like to play several games with one set as there are very nuanced differences between each, and it is easy to end up getting confused if you swap around too much.
The Blitzkrieg set focuses on the late 1930s and early 1940s when (some) armies were developing new tactical and operational techniques around the use of airpower and massed armour formations. I picked a couple of early WW2 scenarios as I have the toys for those, and I've been doing some of these campaigns with 'Unconditional Surrender'.
First up is Narvik in April 1940. The Germans attacked Narvik as part of their overall invasion of Norway, the town was at the terminus of the route from Sweden carrying iron ore that was vital to the German war effort. The Germans got ashore OK but then the Royal Navy destroyed most of the German naval escorts, leaving a mixed garrison of Mountain Troops and sailors fighting as infantry.
More of a worms eye view. I set this up using a winter cloth and my profile mountains. The real terrain is quite complex, with mountain ridges, various valleys and passes, fjiords etc so this is more of an impression. There is an area of (passable) high ground NE of Narvik which I've managed to represent by folding the base cloth. It has a few pine trees on it. The land area is about 18" x 18", which I think looks a lot better than the 3' x 3' table I used for some of the RCW games.
The local Norwegian 6th Division counterattacked, supported by an Allied contingent shipped in further north. Left to right we have French, Poles and then Norwegian infantry. In reserve are British infantry, and the French are rated as elite. The Norwegian figures look suspiciously like Afrika Korps figures painted grey...
The Royal Navy is providing NGFS, this unit is rated as an elite artillery unit, which makes it rather scary. Artillery has some similarities to the way it is treated in the RCW set, but only has a limited set of fire missions.. Elite units get three missions, which are quite destructive.
This ship looks suspiciously like a1/3000 scale model of HMS Inflexible... I don't have any WW2 1/3000th scale ships.
The Germans have three infantry units dug in across the front (with a fortification bonus). The unit in the mountains on the right is elite, the other two are regular as they are a mix of sailors and mountain troops. Historically the elements on the right flank held out longest.
The Germans were completely isolated, and the only reinforcements available were paratroops, so in reserve the Germans have two units of Paras waiting to be flown in by Ju 52.Both are 'unreliable' due to the vagaries of air drops.
I enjoy setting up the terrain and forces, even though you could just play these games with counters.
This battle is a straight infantry/artillery fight, without the nuances of armoured formations and air attacks, so a good way to get your head around the basic mechanisms.
The action opens with a French assault on Narvik supported by NGFS. On the the first turn, both sides can pick where to attack (or launch an air raid), after that it is semi randomised. I had to re-read the bits on how artillery works a few times and I still think I got it wrong at first. It is subtly different to the RCW set.
The German sailors run away, but the Luftwaffe drop a stick of Paras to save the town. An interesting wrinkle in this set is that reserves don't arrive automatically, if the enemy is attacking with tanks they need 2+, and if they have tanks and a bombers, a 4+. This makes more likely that armoured units will set up devastating flank attacks.
No tanks or bombers here though, the Paras land automatically but are still 'unreliable' , so need to be diced for if they fight.
The Germans choose their most advantageous sector, the Gebirgsjager attack the Norwegians but the battle is indecisive. Similar to other sets, some classes of units attack earlier than others, but infantry fight simultaneously. The GJ have a big edge being both elite (hit on 4+) and dug in (Norwegians hit on 6).
The following turn, action occurs in the same sectors. The French attack Narvik, but the Fallschirmjager stand and they are repulsed, while the Gebirgsjager and Norwegians continue fighting on the right. From turn 2 onwards, each side dices, on a 4+ they choose a sector, otherwise it is 1 to3 for left, centre, right.
On the third try, Narvik falls.
But once again the Luftwaffe spring to the rescue with more FJ.
Over in the mountains the GJ finally push the Norwegians back.
Their place is taken by the British, again the reinforcement is automatic as the Germans have no tanks or bombers. On the left I've kept the FJ as a column to show they are untried yet.
The British on the right don't last very long! The Germans kept roll 4+ on their activation dice so kept choosing their best unit to fight.
Now things get a little odd. The Battleships have fired all their fire missions but still count as a reserve unit, so plug the gap with an artillery salvo - think of it as a desultory box barrage. The artillery fights as a normal (not very good) unit - think of the Germans trying to get through the barrage or something. It was that or park the battleships in the snow!
The French attack Narvik again and the the paras run away.
And in a final twist of fate, the Battleships roll a 6 and blow away the GJ on the right. Reduced to one unit, the Germans lose, as there aren't any rallies in these rules. The centre wasn't engaged for the entire game!
As I wasn't sure I was doing some of that right, I ran it again a few more times. I'll try and keep this a bit briefer.
On the next run the Norwegians attacked on the right with NGFS support and easily routed the GJ.
More FJ swooped in.
But were immediately engaged and ran away! They failed their reliability roll.
Send more paras.....
Now the Poles attacked and cleared the centre, again with NGFS support. The Germans were out of reserves now, so a hole opened up.
But the Narvik garrison saw off the French and the British hurried up to take their place in the line.
They need not have worried too much as the Poles outflanked the FJ in the north and routed them. Outflanking tanks and infantry get a combat bonus, and the targets cant fight back, as in the other sets.
Another easy Allied win.
Time for another go.
Once again the Narvik garrison routed early on but FJ parachuted in to save the day. In this case the German centre held out OK.
Further heavy fighting however saw the Poles, Norwegians and British all routed! The remaining French managed to clear Narvik and once more it was an Allied victory. I don't think it is an unbalanced scenario, just down to the luck of the dice.
I stopped and set up the Sedan scenario at that point, but it is also quite photo heavy so I'll do that as a sperate report. It took me a while to get the hang of that, but that is possibly because it was so similar yet different to the RCW set. It was a lot of fun to play though, and I really enjoyed setting the terrain up. The tanks and aircraft in the next scenario should add even more depth.
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