20OperationNordwind — Beta testing responses:
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"the enemy is very too weak in the South now…" — adopted all recommendations including the Wurfrahmen 40. +5 land units. The player will view this message when the Wurfrahmen is seen by the Allies:
- Screenshot 1.jpg (156.08 KiB) Viewed 2571 times
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"About the 6th SS ... The division has lost its artillery on the way now…" — I had left everything else out because this division starts in the mountains and artillery cannot move in mountains. But, as you astutely observed, there are two or three forest hexes just to the east where 6th SS wheeled units could start and "participate." So I nudged the 25th PzG to the east, moved a few units of 47th VGD east, and freed up four spaces for "1 Nebelwerfer plus 2 mountain guns units" and "some light AA capability." All are towed, and they can tiptoe around the mountains as necessary. I did not bother with reconnaissance — space is limited — but since you liked the Jäger 'Norge' / 6th SS Gebirgs, I added another unit of them. + 5 land units.
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"But German don’t have heavies, except as garrisons…" — substituted a heavy infantry unit for "one for the 25th PzG AND later one for the 17th SS PzG." Each has transport; I always provide transport for heavy infantry unless they are garrisoning.
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"two adaptations related to the apparition of these divisions…" — added a trigger condition to change supply to 100 in Loudrefing and 30 in Belles-Forêts. Excellent point about the AI hanging back to protect this hex and/or the player exploiting the situation by cutting it off with a Chaffee tank (while I like the supply requirement in this game, I don't like the way that it can be exploited like this; for a single unit to be able to disable two enemy divisions in that manner is not realistic, so I usually plan against this). So I added two garrison units that appear with the 17th SS PzG and 36th VGD in Loudrefing and Belles-Forêts. +2 land units.
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So far, that's a total of 202 German land units in the scenario. I must trust your judgment on two accounts: 1) that this is not a terrible number of units for an
average player to face — I would have thought it might be but your being essentially done by Turn 15, I have to credit this — and 2) that the game is not being bogged down by all of these AI units. Taking these two things as granted, however, then it is a good idea for
"another division [to] appear, as reinforcement, around the middle of the battle or something, well once the German offensive begin to lack some power, some steam, that is…" According to this source (
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA ... ra-26.html — search for "245th Volks"), the 245th VGD was already beat up during fighting in December: "weak," "severe losses," "fall apart," "collapse," "remnants." So I cobbled those remnants together with some from the 256th VGD which was also in the area, plus a bit of additional whimsy:
"The last gasp of German reserves enters the battlefield. These are elements of the battered 245th and 256th Volksgrenadier Divisions now operating in tandem ..."
(2) 935th Reg / 245th VGD
(1) 936th Reg / 245th VGD
(1) 937th Reg / 245th VGD
(1) Pionier / 245th VGD
(1) Panzerabwehr / 245th VGD
(1) 456th Reg / 256th VGD
(1) 476th Reg / 256th VGD
(2) 481st Reg / 256th VGD
(1) Aufklärung / 256th VGD
"... along with some mechanized equipment salvaged in the wake of the 21st Panzer Division" (see the last "245th Volks" reference in that linked article for the plausibility of this — it eases my mind because I usually don't include armoured units with infantry regiments):
(1) SdKfz. 135/1
(1) sIG 38(t) Grille H
(1) Wespe
(1) Hummel
(1) SdKzf 7/1
+16 land units.
A grand total of 218 land units.
When to have these last reserves enter? I like your suggestion of "perhaps when they’ve [the Germans] lost between 50 to 60 units." Specifically, 56 which is almost exactly one-third of the number of German land units on the map to begin the scenario! Because the player may have already taken one or more of those northern towns, I have this amalgamated division spawning in the northeast corner of the map, along with additional supply (I corrected the spelling of the message title
):
- Screenshot 2.jpg (634.86 KiB) Viewed 2571 times
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"Anyway, 50 turns, that’s definitely too much…" — reduced turns to 36. Also did the following:
- Moved the Northwest Breakthrough up to Turn 12.
- The weather clears on Turn 8 instead of 6, delaying all air units another two turns.
- Increased the threshold for ending the scenario early from 100 to 175 enemy land units killed (80% of 218 total units).
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"Now, a little of more little elements, maybe" — did the following:
- Created a trigger that spawns three German airstrips in out-of-the-way hexes on the east side of the Rhine if the Germans at a turn start do not own
either airfield. If these hexes are occupied by the Allies, or about to be, then the air war is over anyway. The reason for doing this: I have been avoiding AI off-map air supply source because it does not return exited aircraft to the battle.
- I've also been avoiding recon planes for the Allies because the U.S. doesn't have any except the
NAVY OS2U and PBY Catalina which would look dumb over Alsace. (It's rather a lame oversight, frankly.) That's why I used the "Leclerc borrowing a C-47" strategem in Strasbourg. Here, I brought in Great Britain as a neutral faction in order to use two of their Lysander planes, under the Free French flag. I do not chose to explain this to the player, because it might sound even more dumb than an OS2U over Alsace.
- Fixed the situation in the Saverne Gap with the 409th, 410th, and Machine Gun battalions of the 103rd Infantry.
- "Norge," "Algérienne," "Merci beaucoup!" and "37e Grp Antichar / 3e DIA" are all corrected.
- It's now "Former Concentration Camp" and it remains off-limits, as it should.
- On the other hand, you're absolutely right about the Cathedral except for one thing: In my mind, now we are
defending it from the barbarians who would seek to destroy it out of spite or from some misguided tactical scheme. Besides, it is involved in some complicated and delicate trigger schemes as a land unit to be counted, etc. So I left this alone.
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"Event text of 'Snowy Conditions' ... Perhaps it could be completed with something like ..." — I took your suggestion but reworded it just a bit (final comma removed and replaced with a period
):
- Screenshot 3.jpg (160.73 KiB) Viewed 2571 times
Together, we have really scrubbed these two scenarios!
Strasbourg was updated in version 0.56. These changes to
Operation Nordwind will be in version 0.57. Colonel, you stated that would be so kind as to replay both; if so, please do so when you have time. At this point, I am no longer looking for major revisions to either scenario, though. I will be looking for any typos, bugs, or minor adjustments to turns, timing, etc. Thanks very much for all you do.
French Indochina: It looks promising!
These Chindits/Montagnards could still
be involved perhaps toegther with the Force 136?
About these Chindits/Montagnards... 
That was almost a sacrilege!
The Free French flag was almost removed (for the Impassable Area one) - Leclerc would never have forgiven that! 
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– anyway, it should be rather understandable
(