Free France Campaign

[ColonelY]

[...] The bad news is, you never got a chance to properly test this module. I believe you would have told me that it is too tough. The Dutch partisans go charging off immediately, heedless of the enemy, and repeatedly stumble into trouble. One runs afoul of the garrison in Assen or Groningen, I forget which.

Even if I told the player to "Remember, these partisans are vulnerable. Protect and escort them to their destination," the player probably only has one paratrooper unit nearby to go chasing after the partisan unit. That's not enough to destroy every obstacle that could be in their way.

Back to the drawing board.

Never got a chance to preperly test this module?

On the opposite, during an entire playthrough, I've had. 4 units managed to reach their destination (out of the 5)... 3 were intact, 1 badly damaged, but 4 reached their location (and that would have been enough to spawn/deploy enough targets of opportunities).

Two things:
1. The player can very well wait a few turns before sending one unit to the rendezvous points, the time to gather some forces or do some clearing nearby...
2. The player won't probably have only one unit... 48 paratroopers available in total, plus recon vehicles... and they have to push forward anyway...

It spices things up.

The problem with controlling them ourselves is that we'll know in advance WHERE they're going - and thus lose that element of surprise, which requires some adaptability, observation and anticipation on the part of the player.

I don't think it is necessary to change this module (except of course for the target deployment part).

[ColonelY]

Alternatively, if you think this is too difficult for the player, as an easy solution, you could simply reduce this threshold from 8 to 6 targets of opportunity... then the player only has to escort/save 3 of these units. Then it will be easier!

[ColonelY]

Another point to consider, anyway: with this new system (the "Turn Start" rather than the "Move Event"), our Partisans risk much less (or almost nothing) when they arrive at their destination.

Why is that? The Germans are in defensive mode and will remain so during the turn in which the Partisans arrive at their destination...

Once the Partisans arrive at their destination, at the beginning of the next turn, they will vanish as the targets are revealed and the Germans in the area will switch to S&D... But these Germans will not switch to S&D while the Partisans are still on the map.

That's why I lost the Alpha group before, by the way.
It was being followed, so it was leading the way... when it reached its destination (AI Dutch turn), it didn't trigger the appearance of the targets (because during an AI turn), but the Germans in the corner immediately went into S&D... and right after, it was the Germans' turn to play, so they rushed those poor partisans both infantry units attacked, then the motorcycle as well... so they retreated a few times and were down to 1 strenght point...
As soon as it was my turn, counter-attack by several paratroopers units (who followed wisely, in group )... the 2 german infantry units were weakened and pushed back, the motorcycle too... Several paratroopers units were shielding between the enemy troops and the poor partisans... As soon as it was the AI's turn again, the partisans stayed on the spot (without replenishing)... the German infantry couldn't reach them anymore, but the motorcycle, very mobile, which can move in two steps, even against our units, could... so that the motorcycle unit, reduced to 1 point of strength, was still able to attack the partisans of the Alpha group, also reduced to 1 point of strength... and that, in the end, they annihilated each other!

But this, with "Turn Start" instead of "Move Event" will not happen again. They will have to be protected on the road, on the way, but not at the destination anymore.

[ColonelY]

Another point to consider, anyway: with this new system (the "Turn Start" rather than the "Move Event"), our Partisans risk much less (or almost nothing) when they arrive at their destination. [...]

Which also means, by the way, that we can now consider the option of adding a few more motorcycle "Feldgendarmerie" here and there (they can't capture hexes, so won't disrupt our supply lines; and a single motorcycle unit has very little chance of destroying a partisan unit - well, unless the player lets it try for several turns , of course ).

Like some of them aggressively patroling between the 4 northern towns AND some of them "hidden" in now empty towns, ready to switch in S&D mode as soon as our forces or some Dutch partisans do come closer.

That shall spice things up a little more, on the road.

[ColonelY]

Authion:

This map should be helpful: http://ekladata.com/-y0g1_sOSUrL1096kGf3hdcwEvs.jpg

[bru888]

Free France 1940-1945 v0.70 has been uploaded. It includes the following changes to the Amherst Drop scenario.

Free France 1940-1945 (22 of 24 scenarios)

• Added 10 supply to Sleen.
• Provided +10 supply for the German airfield counterattack in two hexes in case nearby towns have already fallen to the Allies.
• All "Deploy Targets" activate on Turn Start instead of Move (which, as the Colonel found, will actually deploy the targets now).
• The message for spawned Dutch partisan units is now: "A rendezvous with Dutch partisan unit Alpha [Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon] has been arranged. Send an SAS unit to meet them in an adjacent hex. The partisans will immediately begin to lead the way to targets of opportunity. Be prepared to provide enough protection to keep them alive." This should be sufficient warning to the player.
• Mapped out routes for each Dutch partisan unit so that they don't blindly stumble into canal bridge guard posts and heavy fortifications in towns and cities. The partisans should be more savvy than to do something like this.
• HOWEVER, I also introduced 6 Dutch NSKK and Feldgendarmerie units that will spawn randomly in six out of 12 locations in the open areas north of the Hoogeveen Canal. They will remain on Static Defense until the first Dutch partisan unit is spawned, whereupon they will go to Seek & Destroy.

Here is a map of partisan unit paths (yellow) and possible spawns of enemy patrols, randomly 6 out of 12 possible locations (green circle with red X):

Partisan Routes and Enemy Patrols.jpg (991.53 KiB) Viewed 2232 times

[bru888]

Authion:

This map should be helpful: http://ekladata.com/-y0g1_sOSUrL1096kGf3hdcwEvs.jpg

I hope you are not disappointed that the map I am using is only as large as the yellow box (zoomed in, of course). The 1re DFL, German 34th, and Italian Littorio Divisions will all be crammed into this tiny box! But don't worry, it will work.

map2.jpg (501.32 KiB) Viewed 2231 times

This is the scenario template map. The massif is in the center, and all three forts and two defensive works will appear on it:

Authion Local Map 1.jpg (511.52 KiB) Viewed 2230 times

[ColonelY]

22AmherstDrop:
I'm glad you kept the Dutch supporters under AI control.

Excellent to have adapted the route they will follow and to have added a random component on their way, with the possible presence of Dutch NSKK and Feldgendarmerie in some places...

I will test this scenario again soon.

23Authion:
Don't worry, this yellow box, although tiny, should fit perfectly.

[bru888]

22AmherstDrop:
I'm glad you kept the Dutch supporters under AI control. Your mentioning losing the element of surprise is what swung that deal.

Excellent to have adapted the route they will follow and to have added a random component on their way, with the possible presence of Dutch NSKK and Feldgendarmerie in some places... I would have tried to randomized the Dutch partisans in some way, but that would have been a mammoth amount of programming. This arrangement lends a bit of suspense to it in another fashion.

I will test this scenario again soon. Thanks. Turns? Objective goal numbers?

23Authion:
Don't worry, this yellow box, although tiny, should fit perfectly. It was hard to find good references to this battle. You found a few, and I am very glad to have come across that fellow's book with a chapter on the Battle of Authion. The battle may have been spread out to some extent, but the most important fighting was done on the massif; that is my impression. Designer's license will allow me to concentrate all forces in that area.

By the way, I belatedly remembered you saying the Dutch partisan units needed to all "Exit" instead of being "Kill[ed]." I sneaked that correction in to version 0.70 earlier today.

[ColonelY]

22AmherstDrop:

Major victory on the 36th turn, and no problems found.

Destroyed 10 enemy convoys (then stopped harassing them, anyway) => this threshold can be safely increased to 10 but not more. But it is not really necessary either...

The number of turns could be reduced from 49 to 45... which still leaves some room for the player.


Et voilà !

[bru888]

For the Battle of Authion, here is the finished map. The forts are illuminated, as the French, who built them, would know where they are and defensive works would have been identified from aerial reconnaissance. The Authion Massif, as far as I can tell, is the land mass bounded by the fortifications and the road loop, and that will be heavily defended. The 1re DFL will encounter some resistance in the western approaches, however.

Screenshot 1.jpg (454.31 KiB) Viewed 2066 times

[bru888]

Traditional entry by the 1st French Division. They will be channeled by the mountains and forests into taking the roads toward and around the massif. Danger is immediately ahead.

Screenshot 1.jpg (455.81 KiB) Viewed 2055 times

[ColonelY]

Nice!

[ColonelY]

Video about the 1re DFL… no (real) sound… ‘could be very good for some printsceen to add some cool and immersive pictures here and there:
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4juk8m

Short (propaganda ) video about the 1re DFL in Italy (and Authion):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRnBNvlXGQk
*******
Mémoires de Guerre, T3, pp 189-190:

"In March, he had the 27th Division in the Alps, a large, numerous unit, full of ardor, of which the mountain maquisards, particularly the survivors of the Glières and Vercors, formed the core, but which had only received makeshift armament. Under the orders of General Molle, this division kept contact with the enemy on the outskirts of the passes, from Lake Geneva to Mount Thabor. Further south, an incompletely equipped brigade blocked the high valleys of the Durance and Ubaye rivers. The Nice region was held by an American brigade. But this one, called on the Rhine, was in the process of packing up.

To resume the offensive, our troops needed a command and reinforcements. On March 1st, I created the "Detachment of the Alps Army" and placed General Doyen at its head. He was a confirmed Alpine commander and was to lead the battle perfectly well. In addition to the elements already in place, I placed under his command the 1st DFL, which I had taken over after the Colmar affair. I added two African regiments, which were unfortunately rather short of troops, as well as additional artillery, engineers and services. In agreement with Eisenhower, the Doyen Army Detachment was, like Larminat's, theoretically attached to the Devers Army Group. But the latter, which was engaged in a completely different theater, cared little for their operations. However, he provided them with a minimum of shells and petrol.

At the end of March, the attacks began. General Doyen had four divisions in front of him. The 5th mountain division held the Petit-Saint-Bernard, the Iseran and the Mont Cenis; the 34th occupied, above Nice, the fortified massif of the Authion and blocked, on the coast, the road to the Corniche; these two were German. Two Italian fascist divisions, "Monte Rosa" and "Littorio", filled the gaps. Doyen wanted, first of all, to catch the 5th German Division, which included the best enemy troops, and then to take the Aution by force. Then, taking advantage of the advance of Alexander's armies, which were to take the offensive in Lombardy, he intended to break through into Italian territory.

At an altitude of more than 2,000 meters, in the snow and the cold in which the mountains were still immersed, General Molle's Division attacked the Petit-Saint-Bernard and Mont Cenis organizations. Several works were taken; others were not. But the German garrisons, absorbed and decimated, could not go to the aid of the defenders of the Authion. The 1st DFL was given the task of taking the massif. The task was hard, and also thankless, because it was difficult for the officers and soldiers of this exemplary division to leave to others the laurels that littered the soil of Germany and to finish, in an isolated sector, the epic that they had lived through since the darkest days on the most brilliant fields.

On April 8, leaving the Rhine, I reached the Alps. Having received in Grenoble the report of General Doyan, then reviewed in Saint-Pierre-d'Albigny a part of Molle's troops, I arrived in Menton in the middle of Garbay's troops. To these companions, who were the first to respond to my call and who have since been unstinting in their devotion, I would like to express the importance for France of the final effort that is required of them. Then, wanting to give the operation a national resonance, I went to Nice on the 9th and, from the balcony of the Town Hall, announced to the crowd "that our arms were going to cross the Alps". The voice of the people acclaimed this decision. On April 10, our troops stormed the Authion.

For 7 days, they fought there, climbed the escarpments, seized the forts: La Forclaz, Mille Fourches, Sept Communes, Plan Caval, which commanded the mountain, and cleaned the slopes above La Roya. The passes of Larche and Lombarde were also taken in a hard fight. The French entered Tende and La Brigue. The inhabitants exulted with joy. Shortly afterwards, a vote, as much as unanimous, consecrated their belonging to France. On April 28, the Army Detachment of the Alps made a general advance. While the left flank of the detachment reached Cuneo and crossed the Val d'Aoste, all decked out in blue-white-and-red, the center of the detachment descended from Mont Cenis and Mont Genèvre, while the right flank pushed through the Stura and along the Corniche. On May 2, the day the German and Fascist forces in Italy laid down their arms, our soldiers reached the outskirts of Turin, at Ivrea, Lanzo, Bussoleno, reached Cuneo and occupied Imperia. Thus it is established that the fighting in the Alps, which began in 1940, was continued by the resistance, and finally resumed by the revived army, ended in our victory."

[bru888]

Free France 1940-1945 v0.71 has been uploaded. It includes the new Battle of Authion scenario.

Free France 1940-1945 (23 of 24 scenarios)

Screenshot 1.jpg (542.9 KiB) Viewed 1976 times

Screenshot 2.jpg (537.03 KiB) Viewed 1976 times

Screenshot 3.jpg (458.22 KiB) Viewed 1976 times

Screenshot 4.jpg (479.94 KiB) Viewed 1976 times

Screenshot 5.jpg (480.89 KiB) Viewed 1976 times

Screenshot 1a.jpg (125.2 KiB) Viewed 1976 times

Screenshot 2a.jpg (101.51 KiB) Viewed 1976 times

Screenshot 3a.jpg (113.1 KiB) Viewed 1976 times

Screenshot 4a.jpg (105.29 KiB) Viewed 1976 times

Screenshot 5a.jpg (118.63 KiB) Viewed 1976 times

Screenshot 6.jpg (206.27 KiB) Viewed 1976 times

As you know, I am assigning experience levels in these last few scenarios according to circumstances as well as the time in the war. No more campaign experience variables for the French, in particular.

So, perhaps the French would be experience level 9 now, but I deducted a half-star for their campaigning in the mountains: level 8, four stars. (The exception are their three Group Z units which are explained in the scenario — these are level 10, five stars.)

The Germans are losing experience due to all of the young/old, inexperienced, and inadequate troops being pressed into service. Level 6, three stars.

Here's a wrinkle, though: Italian infantry units are available in this game only up to 1943. To compensate, I gave back some experience to these units: level 8, four stars.

Now as to the "weakened" status of Axis units. All German and Italian units are 8 strength to start. It is doubtful that the AI will have enough income to "repair" many of them. (The exception here are the forts and defensive works, which have the normal 10 strength.)

French forces are quite outnumbered but I am thinking that this will be offset by:
• The defensive posture of the enemy, allowing them to be defeated in detail.
• The "weakened" state of enemy units.
• Four Hurricane II D's with no aerial opposition (there are AA guns, though); I picked this fighter for its ground attack.

Even so, the usual question about gameplay balance is open. Also, whether 24 turns is enough to get the job done. I think it is, because this map is smaller, but there are a good number of obstacles (foxholes and mines).

One other note: I reduced the number of turns in Amherst Drop slightly, from 49 to 45, as suggested.

[ColonelY]

Poor Admiral, he has been given a hard time again; very immersive!


24 turns, no, it won't be enough, that's sure. With the current conditions, the engineers, for example, will only move one hex per turn most of the time... so it will already take them almost a dozen to get to the first objective, La Força...

Then there are the obstacles, and the enemy who doesn't want to die quickly once entrenched on the mountains... Fortunately, our fighters are able to deal with the enemy's long-range artillery, despite the enemy's anti-aircraft defense.

As far as our artillery is concerned, ours is lagging behind, and will move during most of the scenario, at the rate of one hex per turn...


First bunch of suggestions:

1. Deploy our artillery units more easterly. For example, one could reverse the current artillery positions (2 units) with the (two) easternmost regular infantry units... At the rate of one hex per turn, that is already 6 turns gained for our artillery.
2. Increase directly the limit to 30 turns

We still lack a bit of means...
3. North African troops having been put at the disposal of the 1st DFL for the occasion, I say to myself that we could perhaps duplicate the "North African Bn / 1st DFL" (there is a hex available, in a place that seems appropriate, just north of the crossroads under our control...)
4. We might as well involve for once 1 or 2 units of the (old) "Chasseurs Alpins" ('40 yes...), because "Various units were attached to the division for the offensive. These included the former FFI 3rd Alpine infantry regiment, a company of ski scouts and various ad hoc units." (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_the_Alps ) But, related to French ski troops, let's wait a little...

All that should help.

Then, we could mention Operation Duck (l'Opération Canard, we have for example these sources: end of page 3 here: https://www.academieduvar.fr/Activites2/Authion.pdf & the name on this map https://1dfl.fr/cartes-826/ - at least it's part of the "Opération Canard", what we're fighting here) for immersion, and add the various flags/arrows on the campaign map.

'Looking at the map, we see some action/arrows near "Trois Communes" (on the battle map). Some records mention the guys of the "3rd Alpine Infantry Regiment" taking "Cime du Diable" (not on the battle map, but on the map of the previous link)... We may involve some French land reinforcements there: as soon as one unit of ours is at 2 hexes (or less) of the "Trois Communes", this Alpine Infantry Regiment may be spawned North of it (3 experienced units with a +10 supply output along the road), together with an event talking about this "Opération Canard" (so no need to talk about it sooner than when it'll be triggered).

So, we may add 1 single unit of French Chasseurs Alpins from start, called "Scouts / 1re DFL" or something. Then, we may add this unexpected (I hope) but welcome help for the player with 3 Chasseurs Alpins of this regiment... And with this, well, we may probably forget about the 3rd point (duplicating some North African battalion)...

[ColonelY]

[...] Then, we may add this unexpected (I hope) but welcome help for the player with 3 Chasseurs Alpins of this regiment...

On second thought, perhaps it would be better to have, instead of 3 Chasseurs Alpins units, rather 2 Chasseurs Alpins units PLUS 1 more conventional infantry unit (the one initially deployed, or rather spawned, on the road, for example).

[bru888]

Free France 1940-1945 v0.72 has been uploaded. It includes the following changes to the Battle of Authion scenario.

Free France 1940-1945 (23 of 24 scenarios)

• Increased turns from 24 to 36.
• Rearranged French column to move artillery forward.
• Added location and flags for the battle to the campaign map.

As for the rest, I would like to keep the numbers of units on each side as they are; that is, I am not looking to add anything at this point. If the 1re DFL cannot handle the situation as is, I am thinking of further weakening Axis units.

[ColonelY]

[...] I would like to keep the numbers of units on each side as they are; that is, I am not looking to add anything at this point. If the 1re DFL cannot handle the situation as is, I am thinking of further weakening Axis units.

Okay, understood! We'll see.

[bru888]

Always open to suggestions, though. It's just that I saw this one as being relatively small and short. The next one is going to be large. How to make Black Forest challenging and satisfying?