After two gratuitous posts, here’s (hopefully) something of substance, and very late getting to the blog.
A couple of weeks ago, Tim and I played Fall Grun, a Europa game covering the proposed German invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938. The hypothetical conflict was previously covered by both Command and Strategy and Tactics magazines. In each of our three “games”, Tim had the Czechs.
This iteration is published by New Europa Games, using John Astell’s Blitzkrieg Unleashed rules. Mr. Astell’s involvement with the Europa system goes back to, I think, the inception. The rules closely follow the Europa template, but involve some interesting changes to ZOCs and Overruns.
The New Europa website is apparently dormant, but has been an excellent source for variant counters. Also, a game anticipating a Hungarian-Roumanian war in wake of the Czech conflict is supposedly in the making. That would be fun.
The game components are of high quality, however the lack of comprehensive charts presupposes ownership of other Europa games. The map is vinyl. Apparently this is cheaper to produce than a paper map. The only downside is that the creases are more obstinate than paper, requiring some improvisational and forceful re-shaping
The Germans have their work cut out for them. The Czech’s have a quality army that receives strong infantry and armored reinforcements very early in the game. The German initial deployment is rather “even”, without any real point of main effort. Many German units, especially valuable engineers and artillery regiments, are placed some distance back from the Czech-German border, and require time to assemble or move to contributory locations. There is also the possibility of Soviet intervention of the Czech side, with also a desulatory appearance by the anti-Czech Poles obsessing over three hexes.
The real German strength is their airforce. Many units, well suited to ground support, but with fighter cover that lacks range and (initially) limited airfields close to the Czech border. Also, Astell’s latest rules (early war) allow positive combat modifiers for an armored mix as low as 10 percent of the attacking forces.
After setup, we played the initial two turns. I dutifully went through the Blitzkrieg playbook using the first turn to annilihate the Czech airforce and mass units for border attacks. Tim countered, and my attacks stalled. And, that was that. A learning experience. Reset for Saturday.
Well, Friday was a learning experience, but not a good one for me. Still allocated aircraft to airfield attacks, but this time I had deployed my engineer units to quick construct airfields, or move into positiion close to the border to construct them on Turn Two. I concentrated my attacks to the southeast and southwest of Prague, hoping to isolate Prague from the strong Czech units facing Vienna.
Weather. Why worry about it, right? Never a thought. It’s October…….crisp fall weather. Oh…….then just roll on the weather table for …..MUD. Ugh…..bad, bad amateur move. It stings even three weeks later.
OK, give it one more try. Another set up after dinner. Same bloody result. This time, more aggressive, greater gains. But, again, MUD.
No wonder the General Staff was ready for a putsch. Tough army, difficult terrain, limited mechanized advantage, and an untried airforce lacking airfields. And, also, MUD.
I don’t know if Tim is ready for it, but I’d like to switch sides and see what he can do. He’s good, very good. But this is quite a challenge.
Good game in the tradition that is all best about the Europa system. And, given the strange and terrible saga of this system, it’s best to remember the good.