Free France Campaign

[bru888]

Free France 1940-1945 v0.23 has been uploaded. It includes the following changes:

Campaign
- Corrected "Alphonse Juin" text.
- Provided location ring, faction flags, and arrows on the campaign map before Mareth Line.
- Inserted a campaign message after Mareth Line and before Normandie to ease the transition from North Africa to Russia (the Battle of Kursk).

Battle of the Mareth Line
- Added city garrisons for El Hamma and Gabès.
- Added supply to all villages, including "between the line El Hamma-Gabès and the Mareth Line." I don't want supply to factor into this scenario, although the Axis on the Mareth Line is still programmed to defend Gabès if El Hamma falls, or El Hamma if Gabès falls, and then head for the (Tunisian) hills if they both fall! (Even for the New Zealand Corps this lack of supply focus applies; technically, the objective is to hold onto the rendezvous points, not to prevent supply disruption although that could occur if the player is careless.)
- Based on what Mascarenhas said (needed 47 turns), I kept the total amount of turns at 52 for now.
- I overlooked that the four waves of desert patrol attacker count toward the "Decimate the Axis 1st Army" goal. Also, the Matmata Hills pass garrisons at the start. That's 20 + 6 land units plus 62 others on the map (plus two more, the garrisons for El Hamma and Gabès) for a total of 90 Axis, so yes, the bar needed to be raised, to 65.
- That's 650 enemy land strength points to be destroyed. To expect only 16 FF land units (23% of a total of 70 Allied), to destroy 200 strength points (31%) is a stretch, so I raised the "Earn Free French battlefield excellence" goal to 175 strength points, not 200.
- Shortened unit names ("Div" for "Division" or leaving "Div" off altogether) and corrected the Maoris label.
- Added a Lysander recon plane when the British 8th Army is activated at the Mareth Line. Also added a construction group in case it is needed.
- 4th Indian Division to spawn under British India flag (also made British India playable by human and adjusted income accordingly).
- Heh, I realized that the "artillery shots being taken in full AI mod" are not intended but happen when the enemy's planes fly overhead and spot friendly units. I did not want any action on the Mareth Line until the Tebaga Gap breakthrough. Well, it really doesn't matter because all of those placeholder British roundel units get removed anyway when the Eighth Army is activated. Call it "dramatic effect"!
- By far the easiest thing to do, rather than actually "surrender" the convoy ships and have them sail off for Algiers, is to remove them and turn off the reveal hexes over the Golfe de Gabès. Done. "Turn out the lights, the party's over."
- Added a popup message if the naval battle is lost, and provided for failing the convoy objective instead of leaving it open in that case.
- No, I don't want the Allied warships or U.S. planes hanging around. They are there only for the Italian convoy and presumably would be called back to their regular duties when the job was done. I don't want them staying and taking cheap potshots at Axis forces (I saw no reference to any naval support in this battle). Tradeoff: If the Italian warships win, they also get removed.
- Enemy planes should go to Seek & Destroy now, based on whether the Allies or the Axis win the naval battle. Either way, they go to S&D.
- Added a one-time module to restore Axis air power to original levels once Breakthrough at Tebaga happens. Includes replacing any Axis airstrips that have been destroyed up until that point.
- To balance, added 2 Allied fighters and 1 bomber at the same time as the Axis air unit restoration. Recall the construction group that was added at this time as well; if the player still has all his planes flying, he can build another airstrip for additional air supply. If he has already lost an airstrip and needs to rebuild that one, then he is in a bind, let's say.

Free France 1940-1945 (ten scenarios)

[ColonelY]

Normandie:

-> About the land troops, you're right, these are good arguments.

-> About the dreaded Yak-9 T... I would say it's perfectly fine having this variant of the Yak-9 in this scenario; let's go more fun while still staying perfectly plausible!

*******
10MarethLine is about to be tested in its new version!

[ColonelY]

10MarethLine:

Hey, having double-checked, I've found something that I consider as truly worth being added: the BIMP! (=Bataillon d'Infanterie de Marine et du Pacifique )

How? Well, just one FF unit name to slightly adapt and an event poping-up once this unit has been moved (as you did it perfectly for the ship "La Malouine"), or perhaps simply when the corresponding unit will be spawned...

Why? Because it adds cool historical content about the Frenchies, because it should enhance even more immersion, because it makes a nice but discret reminder of the famous Bir Hakeim victory, because it lights up a nice decision by Monty, because it proves as well that not all Frenchies were "punished" (after El Alamein 2 - where they couldn't do much anyway ) by pure garrison duties, and because... well, that should already be enough, shouldn't it?!


Basis for the event text: (Translated from http://1dfl.fr/-BIMP.html using online Tools! Note that BIM = Bataillon d'Infanterie de Marine and BP = Bataillon du Pacifique. The BP which deserved and got an event in the great Bir Hakeim scenario. )

"Until the exit of Bir-Hakem in June 1942, 1er BIM and BP 1 had a separate, albeit common, existence within the 1st Brigade. But after the hard battle of the siege, followed by the strong sortie from Bir-Hakeim, and in view of the heavy losses both formations had suffered, including those of the two battalion leaders - Lieutenant-Colonel BROCHE and Commander SAVEY -, 1er BIM and BP 1 had to merge to form the Marine and Pacific Infantry Battalion: the BIMP.

It is from now on under this acronym that French volunteers from Metropolitan France and the Pacific will take part in the campaigns of LIBYA in 1943, TRIPOLITANIA AND TUNISIA.

After the battle of EL ALAMEIN, in November 1942, while the 1st Free French Division was mysteriously maintained in Egypt, the BIMP was granted the privilege of accompanying the British 8th Army in its pursuit of the Axis forces in CYRENAICA and TRIPOLITANIA with the mission of ensuring the protection of General MONTGOMERY's Headquarters and defending the advanced airfields of the Allied fighter aviation.

This favour made to the BIMP will still be worth to him the pleasure to welcome in CASTEL BENITO, near TRIPOLI, the elements of the Column LECLERC arriving from CHAD and to attack later with it the line MARETH to enter TUNISIA.

Joined in April 1943 by the rest of the 1st DFL, the BIMP was again integrated there and its journey would henceforth be that of the Division. [...]"


A slightly modified name? Yeah, one Free French infantry spawning together with the Kiwis may see its name modified from "Leclerc's Force L" to "Leclerc's Force L (BIMP)"... that shouldn't be too long and that should do the trick, shouldn't it?


'Sounds good?

[ColonelY]

I found this old Swiss newspaper (from Neuchâtel in fact): http://doc.rero.ch/record/56491/files/1943-03-24.pdf

A background image to use to add an event once the "Breakthrough at Tebaga Gap" is achieved by the player? Yeah, as it's written: "The Battle of Tunisia is approaching its critical point"...

As event title, perhaps something like "The world is watching our progress"?

Anyway, secondary information... But first one can read:

"The English bypassed the Mareth Line
ALGIERS, 23 - From the special correspondent of the Reuter agency:
A British formation of the 8th Army has already bypassed the position of Mareth and is advancing towards the sea in the direction of Gabès, threatening to take Marshal Rommel's forces from behind.
The Germans are fiercely resisting the frontal attack on their lines, but nevertheless the attack is progressing.
Employing a tactic frequently used in the western desert, General Montgomery sent a column north on the western side of the chain of heights that forms the western buttress of the Mareth Line positions. Late on Sunday evening, this formation had attacked an enemy position 25 km southwest of El-Hamma, which is itself at about thirty kilometers west of Gabes.
Monday at dawn, this column, which includes tanks, had pierced breaches through minefields and overcoming anti-tank pits. By noon, it had reached a point about fifteen kilometers southwest of El-Hamma. This overflow movement has not come as a surprise to the Germans, whose troops were in the region to deal with the operation. Tough fights are now in progress."

So, secondary information: some minefields (but not too much either) could/should be added here and there up in the North!

[ColonelY]

10MarethLine:

[...] A slightly modified name? Yeah, one Free French infantry spawning together with the Kiwis may see its name modified from "Leclerc's Force L" to "Leclerc's Force L (BIMP)"... that shouldn't be too long and that should to the trick, shouldn't it?
[...]

To be spawned together with the very last wave, perhaps to space the events a little bit in time (which events?, well the "Breakthrough!" when the Kiwis show up and this new one).

[Mascarenhas]

On minefields in the North, they´re already there.

[bru888]

Free France 1940-1945 v0.24 has been uploaded.

Free France 1940-1945 (ten scenarios)

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I subsequently inserted "Field" in front of "Marshal."

No more mines, however. Mines are often a blend of merely being represented as part of the milieu, so to speak, or as a definite tool for steering the action. Here, it is more of the former. The Axis would have had time to mine the Mareth Line and even the Tebaga Gap to some extent, and these are in the scenario, but sprinkling their rear areas with more mines may not have been realistic.

[ColonelY]

Entirely re-played & re-tested the awesome 10MarethLine scenario (v0.23):

It's just perfect how you allow the 2 armored divisions to join, I mean, with the different options and the choice (I've tested another option than the very first time, of course!) and how the enemy western patrols are moving for different objectives...

MV (lvl III as usual) at turn 37 (being achieved, or really displayed at start of turn 38)... a little delayed by the garrisons (and slightly different tactical choices), that's perfect!

Excellent as well, the coming back of enemy planes - now the AAs of the British line are to be put to some good use!

And now the enemy retreating units can't be completely outsupplied as easily as before... they can be partly outsupplied but it takes more time to achieve this result. So this part is now both more challenging and much more realistic.

Now, few various elements:

1. Event text “Hand-Me-Downs”, small additions suggested (for making it more clear even if one isn’t familiar with the different origins of the various tanks): “[…] a few (French) Char B1 bis and (French) Somua S35 tanks […]”

2. I would say the Axis units number threshold is perfect right now. But the damage threshold that the Frenchies have to do can still be increased… I was at almost 350 when I stopped (still during my turn) as the MV was already assured. => From 250 to 300 stays an option.
Your comparison (with percents) is somehow linear, but the Frenchies will fight from start to end on land, contrary to the Brits for example…

3. When we take control of our British and Indian troops… damn, they lose their entrenchement immediately!
Well, I know it was (certainly) like this before as well… but the thing is that the last units that will move or attack are the enemy planes and at that time they should be above the eastern part of the British line thus “highlighting” this area, keeping the camera here at turn end, when these units are put under our control… and thus making this change very, very visible.
Of course, many of these units are about to advance, to move anyway, but not all… so, what about making all of them start at max entrenchement level?

4. Perhaps adding an event if Leclerc’s wounded (i.e. if his armored recon unit is destroyed)… but I don’t really know if it would be worth it, especially because it’s rather unlikely to happen anyway… still, it’s an idea…

5. I've seen once the enemy planes being low on supply (like yellow), which is a little strange as you said you'll grant them more airstrip if needed... it lasts one turn, perhaps two and that was it... Perhaps checking the off-map air supply for them? Or adding some extra airstrip for them somewhere in the North?

6. It's good to have a Construction Group unit... but I was thinking about this unit going rather together with the NZ and Leclerc's divisions...
Once we're fighting in land for Tebaga, our planes are likely to be not very far... they can exit the map by the North and come back from there, it's working perfectly fine... but then another airstrip built somewhere in this desert may be helpful as well... and adding another element to defend against patrols (so no longer only our supply line)... and it would then be already ready when our air reinforcements show up (then no possible issue in terms of our own air supply if we wait before building it as it should already have been built)... and like this it makes less a "concentration" of airstrips in the SE sector...
I think this Group would be more interesting, tactically, if spawned together with the 2nd or 3rd wave of NZ units, why not directly under the NZ flag as well?

7. Talking about this, perhaps our 2 last fighter units spawning toward the end could come under the NZ flag instead of the British flag? To add some variation in there...
By the way, I think that the overall air battle in well-balanced during this entire scenario right now.

And... I think it's more or less all for now. Another masterpiece, this scenario!


Et voilà !

[ColonelY]

Nice events you've added there.

Oh, and another (last perhaps) little idea: an extra star of XP for this famous Free French BIMP unit?

[ColonelY]

[...] the upcoming Normandie-Niemen scenario (the title is subject to change because, at the time of the Battle of Kursk, over which this scenario will take place, they had not yet acquired the "Niemen" portion of their name). [...]

How many units do you intend to put in these skies? (Well, I'm talking about the Frenchies, of course!)

On your printscreens one can see an unit from the "Cherbourg" and three units from the "Le Havre"... considering that there were 3 Escadrilles, including "Rouen" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escadron_ ... die-Niemen ).

[Mascarenhas]

Ops, I couldn´t even finish 0.23 and we have a new2 version! Great, starting over again.

[bru888]

WAIT! Version 0.25 is about to be uploaded.

[bru888]

[...] the upcoming Normandie-Niemen scenario (the title is subject to change because, at the time of the Battle of Kursk, over which this scenario will take place, they had not yet acquired the "Niemen" portion of their name). [...]

How many units do you intend to put in these skies? (Well, I'm talking about the Frenchies, of course!)

On your printscreens one can see an unit from the "Cherbourg" and three units from the "Le Havre"... considering that there were 3 Escadrilles, including "Rouen" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escadron_ ... die-Niemen ).

15 units. Five in each of the three escadrilles. I have the names of the 14 original pilots, plus another one that came along a short time later.

[bru888]

Free France 1940-1945 v0.25 has been uploaded. These are the latest changes to Battle of the Mareth Line:

- Dropped the number of turns from 52 to 48.
- Thought about the "few (French) Char B1 bis and (French) Somua S35 tanks" but decided to leave it alone. That popup message is a conversation between Leclerc and a French officer. It would be analogous to General Patton saying to a Third Army subordinate, "What's holding things up? Get those damned American tanks moving!"
- Raised French damage threshold from 175 to 200 based on your observation "the Frenchies will fight from start to end on land, contrary to the Brits." That's enough, though; I don't want this to be an especially tough secondary objective.
- All British and Indian troops spawned at the Mareth Line (to replace their placeholder doppelgängers) will be fully entrenched, to make the transition less obvious. I originally was trying to do the reverse; prevent the doppelgängers and their Axis opponents from entrenching at all, but that was not feasible.
- Leclerc is not represented by that Panhard 178, so if it goes poof, Leclerc is not involved.
- I did want the Axis to struggle for their airstrips, as do the Allies, but I give them a one-time boost of replacing them if the human player has destroyed any. I can't see why this would affect their air supply; I merely bring the Axis air force back up to the levels with which they started the scenario and the supply was sufficient then. Perhaps they are moving immediately when first spawned? Efficiency is low when a plane first takes off . . .
- Kept the construction group that spawns on the road from Tataouine. Added another construction group to spawn at the same time on the road from Wilder's Gap. Labeled both "Airstrip Construction" as a clue for the unaware.
- The last two spawned Allied fighters are New Zealanders now.
- Great minds really do thing alike. I had thought of doing the extra XP for BIMP but then I forgot. Gave them an extra half-star of XP, however; I don't want to get ahead of ourselves with their experience as we may see them again in future scenarios. (Besides, as the popup message states, the BIMP may have accompanied Montgomery on his across North Africa trek, but they were still mostly confined to guard duty.)

Free France 1940-1945 (ten scenarios)

[bru888]

You guys think I should release Battle of the Mareth Line as a standalone scenario? I've got a feeling about it that it's special enough to deserve such treatment.

[Erik2]

You guys think I should release Battle of the Mareth Line as a standalone scenario? I've got a feeling about it that it's special enough to deserve such treatment.

How about releasing it as a 2v2 multiplayer?

[bk917]

Why is the Free French campaign not available in the community content through Order of Battle?

[bru888]

You guys think I should release Battle of the Mareth Line as a standalone scenario? I've got a feeling about it that it's special enough to deserve such treatment.

How about releasing it as a 2v2 multiplayer?

Slavemaster! ( )

[bru888]

Why is the Free French campaign not available in the community content through Order of Battle?

Two reasons:

1) It's not finished yet. Currently, only 10 out of a projected 19 scenarios are ready, although those have been polished thanks to assistance from valued forum members.
2) To be included in the community content crate requires the developers to deem the work worthy of the honor, then make provisions to make it available with the game.

[bk917]

Why is the Free French campaign not available in the community content through Order of Battle?

Two reasons:

1) It's not finished yet. Currently, only 10 out of a projected 19 scenarios are ready, although those have been polished thanks to assistance from valued forum members.
2) To be included in the community content crate requires the developers to deem the work worthy of the honor, then make provisions to make it available with the game.

Got it. Thanks.

This is probably answered earlier in the thread, but where do I save the Free France campaign? I got Order of Battle through Steam. Thanks.