From: Hank Meyer Subject: Scorched Earth - Krieg! Scenario OK, Kriegsters, here is a 1942 thru 1944 scenario. This is based on the Turning Point scenario for Totaler Krieg and some playtest materials Kos gave out at the fall 1996 Kriegfest in Los Angeles. It is playable in a single session, unlike the campaign game(s). Although I have run this by Kos and he has made some suggestions (see Victory Conditions), at this point this is unofficial (but still highly interesting). Please send me your input on this, especially the various alternative victory conditions, so they can be refined and adjusted accordingly. Hank Meyer hcmeyer@uci.edu 21.x Scorched Earth Scenario(s) This is a mid-war scenario lasting 18 or 19 turns. The first turn is November-December 1942 and the last turn is either September-October 1944 or November-December 1994 (see Victory Conditions below). Kos comments on the longer Turning Point scenario: "...This is my favorite Krieg! scenario. It's tough and competitive for all three factions right from the start, though at 28 turns it is a little long for Tournament play. You can shave off six turns (and increase the competition value) by agreeing to end with a Final Victory Check after the April-May 1945 turn..." Game Setup * Set up the Victory Point Marker reading "Axis Tide" in the 2 VP Box on the Victory Point Track. * Place the Game Turn Marker in the November-December 1942 space on the Turn Record Track. The game will begin with a Victory Point Check followed by an Axis player turn with a Seasonal Phase. * Players then set up their units in the order listed below. Note that the Axis player sets up first in this scenario. Neutral Force Pool * All units belonging to Sweden, Turkey, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, and all Axis Nationalist units. AXIS Germany Both Alsace-Lorraine and the Polish Corridor are part of Greater Germany at the beginning of this scenario. Army Group North * One 2-2-3 HQ (North, reduced)--e4307. * One 6-6-3 army (18th)--e4507. * One 6-6-3 army (16th)--e4409. Army Group Center * One 2-2-3 HQ, one 5-4-4 panzer army (Center and 3P, reduced)--Smolensk. * One 6-6-3 army (9th)--e4310. * One 6-6-3 army (4th) and one 5-4-4 panzer army (2P, reduced)--Orel. Army Group South * One 4-4-3 HQ (South)--e3517. * One 6-6-3 army (2nd)--Voronezh. * One 6-6-3 army (6th)--Stalingrad. * One 5-4-4 panzer army (4P, reduced)--e3318. Army Group A * One 4-4-3 HQ (A)--e3118. * One 4-4-3 army (17th, reduced)--Novorossisk. * One 8-6-4 panzer army (1P)--e3020. Mediterranean & Garrisons * One German-Italian 6-5-4 panzer army (AF) and one 1-1-2 HQ (Med, reduced)--e1309. * One 1-2-4 German airborne corps--Palermo. * Two 3-4-2 armies (12th and E, reduced)--one each in Athens and Belgrade. * One 4-4-3 German-Finnish army (20th)--Oulo. * Two 3-4-2 armies (1st and 7th, reduced) and eleven 1-2-3 infantry corps--one each in any cities or ports in Denmark-Norway, Belgium-Holland, and/or non-Vichy France. * Seven 1-2-3 infantry corps--one each in Khania (Crete), Naples, Taranto-Brindisi, Warsaw, Minsk, Kiev, and Rostov. * One Convoy Marker--Baltic Sea or North Sea, either mode. * Black Sea Convoy Marker--Black Sea, either mode. * Three Air Support units--Axis Support Units Track. Axis Minor Countries * One 0-4-0 Finnish fortress and two Finnish 3-3-2 armies--anywhere in the Finnish Frontier, no more than one per hex. * One Finnish 2-2-2 army--Petsamo. * One Baltic States 0-1-2 Reserve corps--Riga. * One Hungarian 0-1-2 and one 1-1-2 infantry corps--one each in Belgrade and Lvov. * One Hungarian 2-2-2 army--e3715. * Two Rumanian 0-1-2 infantry corps--one each in Odessa and Sevastopol. * Two Rumanian 2-2-2 armies--one each in e3618 and e3519. * One Rumanian 0-1-2 Reserve corps--Constanta * Three Bulgarian 1-2-2 armies--one each in e2603, Burgos, and Salonika. * Three Vichy 0-1-2 Colonial corps--one each in any cities in Vichy territory. * Ten Italian 0-1-2 infantry corps--one each in Cagliari, Palermo, Benghazi, Genoa, Venice, Rome, Zagreb, Tirana, Tobruk, and Rhodes. * One Italian 1-1-3 infantry EX corps--Tripoli. * One Italian 2-2-2 army (8th)--e3617. * Italian Convoy Marker--Eastern or Western Med, either mode. Delay Box Two German and one Italian Air Support units and all Vichy units. Set aside all German units with Reinforcement numbers 14 or higher, and place all remaining units in the Axis Force Pool. WESTERN ALLIED Great Britain * Two 1-2-2 infantry corps and two 1-1-3 infantry corps--one each in Malta, Alexandria, Cairo, and Baghdad. * One 4-5-2 HQ (15th Allied#), one 7-6-3 army (8th), and one 2-2-4 mech corps (NZ)--in or adjacent to Alexandria. #Place one British 1-1-3 infantry corps, one British 1-2-2 infantry corps, and one British 2-1-3 armor corps in the 15th Allied Army Group HQ box in the Western Allied Force Pool. * British Naval Base Marker--Suez. * One 0-2-0 Fortress unit (Gib, reduced)--Gibraltar. * One 2-2-0 HQ (Lon)--London. * One 1-2-2 infantry corps, one 1-1-3 infantry corps, and one 2-1-3 armor corps--anywhere in Great Britain. * Three Air Support units--Western Allied Available Support Units Track. United States * Two 1-2-3 infantry corps and two 2-1-3 armor corps--anywhere in Great Britain. * One Air Support unit--Western Allied Available Support Units Track. Partisans * One 1-1-3 infantry corps--any rough terrain hex in Yugoslavia. Delay Box One British Air Support unit. Set aside all British and US units with Reinforcement numbers 14 or higher and place all remaining units in the Force Pool. Place all units of the following countries in the Conquered Western Allied Minor Countries section of the Force Pool: Belgium-Holland, Denmark-Norway, Poland, Yugoslavia, and Greece. SOVIET ALLIED Soviet Union No Ceded Border Markers are on the map. All Soviet Border Regions are part of their original minor countries at the beginning of this scenario. Front Line (All hexes are on the east map) * Twenty-one 3-3-2 infantry armies--one each in Murmansk, 5109, 4709, 4509, 4410, 4411, 4311, 4212, 4213, 4111, 4112, 4013, 3914, 3915, 3816, 3718, 3719, 3620, 3021, 2920, and 2919. * Seven 1-1-2 infantry corps--one each in Leningrad, Moscow, Saratov, Astrakhan, Baku, Batum, and Tehran. Reserves * Two 0-4-0 fortress units (Len and Mos, reduced)--one each in Leningrad and Moscow. * Two 2-2-2 HQs (1Ba and 2By, reduced)--one each in Leningrad and Moscow. * One 2-2-2 HQ (2Uk, reduced)--Tiflis. * Two 2-2-2 HQs (1By and 1Uk, reduced), one 2-2-3 HQ (Stavka, reduced), and four 1-1-3 tank corps--within two hexes of Saratov. * One Convoy Marker--Caspian Sea or Black Sea, either mode. * Two Air Support units (Reserve and Byelorus)--Soviet Available Support Units Track. Delay Box One 3-3-2 HQ (2Ba). Set aside all Soviet units with Reinforcement numbers 14 or higher, and place any remaining units (and the Lend-Lease Marker) in the Soviet Force Pool. Initial Card Hands All faction's cards #1 through #13 (including the Soviet alternate cards #9 and #10) have already been played and/or discarded. Each faction's Option card #14 is placed face-down as its Pending Option Card (note that the Axis must decide which Option Card #14 to setup face-down, either Festung Europa or Lebensraum). Players hold all other cards at the beginning of the scenario. Special Rules and Background (from Totaler Krieg's Turning Point scenario) * First Axis Player Turn--Any Axis units that begin the first Axis Operational Movement Phase in an enemy ZOC must also end the first Axis Operational Movement Phase in an enemy ZOC (not necessarily the some one). Remember, you're picking up the action mid-game. We all know, of course, that the Axis player is about to get "lit up." But prior to the start of this scenario, the Axis player has been focused on the fact that he only needs one more Strategic hex to get to 3 VPs on the Axis Tide before the No Retreat Marker hits the VP Track. * The Status of Vichy France--The Allies have already used (and lost) the Free French coup corps, so it is now just another French Colonial corps. The Vichy Convoy Marker has been eliminated by a "Churchill Pressures Neutrals" Political Event Result. With the "Liberation of France" card coming up, the Western Allied player declared war on neutral Vichy during the War & Peace Segment of his previous player turn (September-October 1942). Thus, Vichy begins the game as an Axis minor country--everyone may ignore the Vichy border printed on the map (see 12.2.4). However, make sure you re-read "Occupation of Axis Minor Countries" in rule 17.1. There's probably not a real chance for the Axis to dodge French Liberation, even with the help of the three Vichy 0-1-2 corps. * Axis Force Pool Management--The Axis player has reached that point in the game where he must keep a careful count of German infantry corps in his Force Pool. Breaking down at will and zipping around the map is no longer as easy as it was in the early years. * Soviet "elite" units--We didn't include these in the Soviet setup in order to provide the Soviet player with the freedom to "commit his reserves" during his first Seinforcement Segment. VICTORY CONDITIONS (players choose which of the three alternatives they wish to use at the start of the scenario): #A. The game ends with a final Victory Point Check at the end of the September-October 1944 game turn. If the Axis Tide marker is in the 0 VP Box (or greater) on the Victory Point track, the Axis player wins. If not the Allied player(s) wins. #B. As an alternative set of victory conditions, the Axis wins if they can achieve an automatic victory (fat chance) or hold the strategic hexes of Brussels, Ruhr, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Prague, Vienna, Breslau, Berlin, Posen, Konigsburg, Warsaw, and Budapest AND the Axis Tide marker is in the 0 VP Box (or greater) at the end of the scenario. The Allies win if they can achieve an automatic victory (fat chance) or hold at least three strategic hexes inside Greater Germany AND the Allied Crusade Marker is in the 0 VP Box (or greater) at the end of the scenario. Any other result is a draw. This focuses the scenario on the territorial integrity of Greater Germany. Note that the scenario has not been tested for the play-balance of the victory conditions, but they seem reasonable. The Axis wins if they can keep the Russians out of Eastern Europe and the Allies bogged down in Italy and France until the end of 1944. #C. Kos writes about this scenario: "...Scorched Earth looks like a good idea. You might extend it to Nov-Dec '44, and subtitle the alternate Auto Victory Conditions "Home For Christmas." All untested, of course..." 1. Nov-Dec '43 "Home for Xmas" Victory Check: If the Allies hold Minsk, Kiev, Sevastopol, Paris and Rome, and the VP Marker is either in the 0 Box or reads Allied Crusade, the Allies win an Automatic Victory. If the Axis holds Minsk, Kiev, Sevastopol, Paris, and Rome, and the VP Marker reads Axis Tide in the 1 Box (or higher), the Axis wins an Automatic Victory. 2. Nov-Dec '44 "Home for Xmas" Victory Check: If the Allies hold Paris, Antwerp, Rome, Warsaw, Bucharest, and any one Strategic hex in Greater Germany, and the VP Marker reads Allied Crusade in the 1 Box (or higher), the Allies win an Automatic Victory. If the Axis holds any three of Paris, Antwerp, Rome, Warsaw, Bucharest, and Budapest, the Allies hold NO Strategic hexes in Greater Germany, and the VP Marker reads Axis Tide (any Box), the Axis wins an Automatic Victory.