DLC '44 West #12: Arnhem

[VPaulus]

Please post here your comments about this scenario.

[Kamerer]

12) Arnhem

Level: Field Marshal
Prestige: Begin: 16,575. End: 17,475. Net: +900.
Result: DV 7/8.
Replacements: none used.


Problems: none noted.

General impressions/comments:

• • Scenario went smoothly, map looks OK.
  • I used a bridge engineer to cross armour and artillery south of Arnhem. Without that, it might be hard to defeat the paras and get enough units to the Nijmegen hexes. An extra deployment hex south of the bridge could help make a more conventional fight winnable (there is no way to safely pre-position artillery that side otherwise).
  • Seemed like a good scenario; air game felt about right, etc.

[ThvN]

beta1

Colonel, Imported Core, DV 4/8

Prestige before/after deployment: 15099/14295
Prestige on last turn/incl. victory bonus: 14745/16245

My anti-air core made very short work of the Allied air units, and there was a distinct lack of Allied tactical bombers, although their fighters managed to damage my artillery and even a Tiger, so if a player has little anti-air capability it seems to be about right. I defended with 14-strenght Grenadiers and overstrenght artillery and would have hacked through the Allied paratroopers in time to reach the 'A' hexes, unless the AI would have spammed more units.

I did not seriously try to take over the map, but I put units next to every flag hex to prevent the AI spamming units. Most of my units were so strong that the AI did not bother to attack them, and their C-47's hovered around the occupied hexes around Arnhem bridge getting shot to pieces. Their fighters did put up a nice challenge though. I seemed to have an increased amount of rugged defenses against me, probably just a freak string of (bad) luck. I noticed that after my first turn the AI took extremely long to finish its turn, I assume because of all the airdroppings?

As an experiment I sent my bridge engineer with some support and the aux SE transports (which could not be reinforced when damaged, by the way) along the east flank south. I crossed the river on turn 3, took out the artillery (another rugged defense) and drove everything on the hexes the next turn, although I could have done it on turn three if I had brought slightly better units along with the bridge engineer.

Two errors on the map (and also on Nijmegen) this time:

Culemborg (1,14) has the same problem with the city flag as reported in the Bayeux and Toulon scenarios: flag appears normally on main map, but shows as allied on mini-map and not at all on the strategic map.

Voudenberg (6,4) – must be spelled Woudenberg.

[Kerensky]

For this map, and the following two that are an extension.

I removed some of the flags from previous scenarios, such as the ones in Bayeux and the one in Toulon, but these flags in the Market Garden scenarios will remain as is. This is mostly a security measure to ensure that the player does not purchase units too far in advance of their deployment area, which could then easily reach their objective extraction zones.

[Kamerer]

12) Arnhem – beta 2

Level: Rommel, stock core
Prestige: Begin: 100. End: 450. Net: +350
Result: DV 6/8

Core changes:
• Upgraded Pz.III/N to Tiger II
• Upgraded one Bf109 to Me262
• Disbanded convoy units


Problems:

• None noted.

General impressions/comments:

My only complaint is that it’s very quick. I think the original battle had them wrestling for a week or more? But, seems to work just fine. The map looks good; seems “authentic” if that makes sense.

[zappel]

Beta2 - Colonel-Level - Imported core - DV at turn 8
Wow, that was a really fast scenario. The paratroopers were dropped straight over the bridge and like Market Garden they had no chance against Tiger and Königstiger. The AA placed in Arnhem smashed the allied fighters and whose which survived were shot down by Schwalben.
I like this fast scenario, please do not change anything!

[ThvN]

Not a real scenario report this, but I've been trying to play through the various Arnhem branches to see if it works, and I've encountered a bug.

Bug: I can't lose Arnhem, just get DV or MV as a result. Seems associated with the scenario victory conditions, I've left a comment in another thread about this already. I tested it more thoroughly, I even played the scenario without deploying any troops: another MV. This cannot be correct. I cheated a loss (endscn), and the follow-up scenario is correct, so at least that works.

For those who think the scenario is rather short, a little explanation/background info:

actual fighting for the bridge in Arnhem connected to Operation Garden (not Market-Garden) lasted three days, on the fourth day the Germans had fully cleared the immediate area around the bridge of all remaining pockets. The surviving Allied airborne troops had retreated east into Oosterbeek and south in positions between Rhine and Waal rivers, and unfortunately the delayed (due to weather) Polish airborne forces jumped right into the frontline on day three. This is in the game where 'Nijmegen' begins after a German victory, after the bridge has been cleared of all opposition, but with airborne forces still scattered in the surrounding area, and fresh Polish reinforcements just dropped in.

BTW, the airborne forces were only expected to fight for two days (and not against such heavy opposition), as XXX Corps would have reached them on day three or four according to the planning (Operation Market). But that got held up, and the rest is history.

[monkspider]

Excellent post ThVn, and an excellent scenario!

Arnhem
General level
Default core
DV 7/8
Ending prestige 1575
No losses

Finally I get to try what might be the centerpiece of this campaign, the Market-Garden scenarios. I really like your ambitious branching design. Like Kammerer, I reasoned that a bridge engineer was the only way to get a DV, but I still could have got one by fighting my way across the southern bridge hex and achieved the decisive victory on the last turn if I needed to. This is a uniquely quick scenario. It might be helpful to give the paratroops a bit more artillery and overstrength more of them to help them out. As it was, the overall assault didn't feel very threatening.

[RobertCL]

Leutnant level Beta 3 - DV

Excellent scenario, won at the very last turn.
Weak opposition due to the play level but it shows up clearly that infantry troops are mandatory to defend cities.
I lost some tanks.

Great short scenario!

[Kamerer]

Arnhem, beta 3/rc

Level: Rommel, stock core
Prestige: Begin: 0. End: 375. Net: +375
Result: DV 7/8

Problems:

• • None noted.

General impressions/comments:

• • Good to go; snappy little scenario.