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Benoit Larose - 11:24pm Nov 10, 1996 EST (#86 of 87)

* ***LONG POST****

Strike North Game Summary 1943 Scenario II (Allied invasion of Norway
without Swedish intervention)

This game was played ftf last night between myself and Bruno L'Archeveque,
my regular opponent. This was our first try at this latest Command
publication. Bruno took the Allies.

SUMMARY:

Setup & Invasion The Germans garrisoned Oslo, Kristiansand, Stavenger,
Egersund, Bergen, Laerdalsoyri, Andalsnes, Trondheim, Narvik, Tromso and
the Rjuken plant with infantry or static divisions. Extra armor or infantry
was put in Oslo, Stanvenger and Trondheim.

The Kriegsmarine sortied and was largely successful, bringing a net +7 VPs
to the Germans but losing the Emden and any further sortie opportunity for
the rest of the game. The 14.7 table was result was 8*, thus including a
+1/-1 DRM to Allied attack/defense during turn 1.

The Allies landed the US in 1818 and 1718, the CW in 1420 and 1123.
Paratroops were landed in 2222 (US) and 1922 (2xBritish), sealing off Oster
and Gudbrands Valleys in the process.

The Germans reacted cautiously, being low in strenght at this point, by
sending the 25 Panzer up the Oster Valley to meet the US Paras there.

Andalsnes was captured by the end of the turn.

Turns 2-4 The Allies consolidated their beachheads. The CW was able to
seize Laerdalsoyri & Lillehammer, isolate Bergen, capture the Rjuken plant
(no VP scored) and block the pass leading from Oslo to Bergen.

The US had more troubles in the Trondheim area where a Turn 2 attack was
cancelled in the face of a great Luftwaffe threat (4 units available)
followed by a Falschirmjager division airlifted in the city. The combat
which followed lasted two turns (to turn 3) and did cause significant
losses to the US forces.

By then, the Germans were successful at bringing numerous reinforcements in
Norway and they held a line between 2226, 1925, 1726 and 1630. There were
combats in the valleys but the Germans units there were able to pull back
before it was too late and get isolated from Oslo.

The Allied Rangers & Commandos conducted raids on Harstad and Narvik,
reinforced shortly thereafter by a US mechanized unit which liberated the
coast from Trondheim to Bodo.

Turn 5 The CW army headed towards Stavenger, assaulted and captured it.
However, the relatively small number of CW units relative to Wermacht units
in the area prevented the CW to fully exploit their success and they were
left in that city.

On the US side, a full-blown frontline developed in front of Oslo to the
foothills in 1628. They faced Germans stacks of 8-15 strenght which were
difficult to attack with odds of more than 2:1 and that, coupled with
defensive air coverage from the Luftwaffe, proved difficult to overcome.

Turn 6 The CW army made a push toward Egersund, seized it but the Germans
sealed the tip of the peninsula from the rest of the beachead.

The US tried one more time to break through the line in front of Oslo but
things went sour as they got a 3/1 result at 2:1 odds. Since the Germans
did have some reserves left, this effort went nowhere.

To make things worst, the Germans dropped their 2nd FJ on Laersdalsoyri,
gaining back a VP (the total was changed from 9 to 10) and threatening
Bergen or Andalsnes.

At that point, judging that Oslo was out of reach in 3 turns left and that
substracting 10 VPs from the Germans was almost an impossible task to
achieve, the Allies conceded the game.

ANALYSIS:

The game lasted 4 hours but we were interrupted by more pressing things a
couple of times (bottle-feeding the baby, among others :) This should have
lasted 2-3 hours with people more comfortable with the rules.

We found that there were MANY decisions to make each turn for both players.
This certainly makes it a highly replayable title, and there are still 4
more scenarios to try on top of that. As the defending player, I found that
my options were numerous and not limited to strict fall-back defense. I
could, and did, conduct significant counter-attacks.

As far as the rules go, we found them clear and easy to follow, as you
would expect from a Command game. There were some confusion around the
invasion procedures (is this a pre-game invasion turn a la Invasion:
Norway?) but we smoothed it out (we decided it was not). We also had some
difficulties at defining invadable hexes (Namsos is invadable with special
forces, according to the rules and its not in a fjord, apparently. But what
makes Namsos different from 1918, other than Rough terrain?)

One aspect of the rules that really has a profound impact on the operations
is the no-ZOC units. It does make things complicated for both players since
with March Mode, units ARE able to cover lots of ground and possibly
outflank the enemy's positions. As the Germans, I was always juggling with
the options of concentrate vs. deploying my units in line.

The abstract air & naval systems are simple but effectively give the right
feel of their presence in the campaign. In our game, I was quite lucky at
getting LOTS of planes at a relatively low VP cost.

I guess what allowed the Germans to win this one is related to the
inexperience of the Allies. Bruno hesitated to assault Trondheim when he
realized I had positive DRMs aginst him, even though he had decent odds. So
he waited for the next turn, not realizing that I could airlift a full
strenght paratroop division in there which I did. So this hesitation
effectively delayed the US drive to Oslo by a full turn at least, which
allowed me to build a decent line in the lakes area. My relatively good
luck at shipping capacity also made the entry of my mech divisions easiers
than expected.

Also, even if the average German unit strenght is low, the sheer number of
units available as the game progresses makes things difficult for the
Allied if the frontline is wide. This is what prevented the CW army to
fully support the assault on Oslo.

Trying to win this scenario on points only is difficult, I think. The
Allies should look at a victory by taking Oslo instead. To do that, a more
concentrated landing in the Stavenger area and working up the south coast
would be better.

Thx for reading.

Benoit blarose@total.net