Turn 21
The attached screenshot shows the end of the Allied turn on the Northern Front. Green circles show hexes gained. Berlin was captured, with the Hitler unit destroyed. Therefore, the Allies have satisfied the requirements for ending the scenario. Victory was determined at the end of this turn. Hitler committed suicide. Germany surrendered. The war in the ETO is over. VE-Day. That’s fortunate, since, next turn, the Germans would have started to receive a trickle of Maus.
There were no attacks on the southern front, so its screenshot will be omitted.
Attachments
Northfron..turn21.png (83.74 KiB) Viewed 155 times
The attached file is the movie of the game. Note that it uses the Allied player-turn saves. So most of the German force is usually invisible due to fog-of-war.
Attachments
Germany19...Allies.gif (50.58 KiB) Viewed 189 times
Now let’s do some statistical analysis. The attached screenshot charts the loss penalties over the course of the game. The red line is for the Allies, and the blue line is for the Germans. Remember that replacements reduce the loss penalty, explaining how the Allied line often decreases, due to their huge replacement edge. The biggest losses occurred at the start, during the Bulge offensive and breaking through the initial German defenses. Then losses slacked off, until the final battle for Berlin.
The attached screenshot charts squad losses (everything in the equipment list up to machine guns). The gridlines are 50,000 squads. The German edge in this can mostly be traced to the vulnerability of Soviet squads – which tended to get slaughtered.
The attached screenshot charts light weapon losses (machine guns, AT guns, light guns, mortars, AAA guns). The gridlines are 20,000 weapons. The chart somewhat reflects that the Allies just had more of such weapons.
The attached screenshot charts artillery losses. The gridlines are 5,000 weapons. While the Allied ranged units were almost never attacked by the Germans, note that in this scenario, lots of artillery was retained in the front-line units. That accounts for the high Allied losses.
The attached screenshot charts scout car (scout cars & jeeps) losses. The gridlines are 5,000 cars. This chart reflects that the Allies had much more of these cars.
The attached screenshot charts transport (horse teams, trucks, APCs, ferries) losses. The gridlines are 10,000 vehicles. The German losses are comparatively higher for this item because their rear-area elements were in the front lines far more than the Allied ones. And that’s where the bulk of the transport assets were.
The attached screenshot charts AFV (armored cars, SPAT, Tanks) losses. The gridlines are 10,000 vehicles. This chart again reflects that the Allies had more AFVs. But it also shows the superiority of German armor, and the fact that, as attackers, the Allied losses were focused on their armored elements, by choice.
The attached screenshot charts Aircraft losses. The gridlines are 1,000 planes. Note that only the Allies had aircraft in this scenario, and all of those were bombers. So all losses were to AAA (note that the game was played entirely under 3.3, so AAA lethality was reduced from the excessive 3.2 levels). Initially, Allied airforces were either disabled or off the map, accounting for the initial low levels.
The attached screenshot charts total losses. The gridlines are 100,000 items. Similar to the loss penalty chart, you can see where the Allied losses were highest clearing the initial German defenses, then slacked off, increasing for the battle for Berlin.
The attached screenshot charts the victory level. The yellow line is the victory level. Grid lines are 50 VPs. Other lines show how it is formed. Blue lines are German; red are Allied; black dashed lines show the level points. There are three Allied lines showing awards, loss penalty, and objectives. The three German lines show the same things for them. The three level points are at 40, 80, and 120. Note that the two objective lines are mirror images of each other (a gain for the Allies was a loss for the Germans). The Allies have no awards, while the Germans received 4 VPs each turn (the diagonal line). The loss penalties are the same as on the earlier chart.
The victory level began as German Overwhelming, then gradually fell to the draw level. The Allied capture of Berlin pushed the value into the positive for them, but not out of the draw level.
The attached screenshot shows the final statistics for both sides. Note that the figures are somewhat skewed by forces in the restriction zones. If only the forces actually engaged were tabulated, the % lost figures would be significantly higher, especially for the Germans. But, they also don’t include equipment in rebuilt units that haven’t yet arrived, which would mitigate those figures the other way. Nevertheless, the loss levels are staggering. Over 1,000,000 pieces of equipment were destroyed (total both sides). And the Allies suffered over 2:1 losses, despite their huge edge in material and initiative. The Allied player should especially be prepared for huge Soviet losses each time they are employed.
Note that, unlike I had to do in the France 1944 D-Day test, no house rule about ant attacks was necessary. The way the scenario was designed greatly blunted the advantage of such gamey tactics. That’s a good thing.
As the scenario designer, the results were very gratifying. The result was a draw, and the game ended on the historical end turn (21), suggesting it is both well balanced and a good simulation. Also, both the Western Allies and the Soviets converged on Berlin at about the same pace, suggesting that the “Race to Berlin” version will be well balanced too. All the myriad, complicated event sequences worked as designed. The Soviets burst out of the German lines on the historical date as well, and then were balked by Berlin just as they had been historically. Italy held out until the Germans stripped those defenses to bolster the Western front. In fact, a better Allied strategy would have been to hold off on the offensive in Italy until the Germans stripped it – just as the Allies did historically. On the other hand, the Western front disintegrated a bit quicker than historically. But I was a bit lazy in bridge blowing at first – had that been better managed, even that front may have been historical. Finally, the Bulge offensive went off exactly as historically, with the Germans advancing just as far as historically, then getting balked, and finally expelled on schedule.
I only had one thing that I thought the test revealed a need for adjustment to. The German rail cap had no adjustment for conditions on the ground. And this kept German supplies higher than they should have been towards the end (via transport asset sharing). I’m going to add some reduction events for that, either conditional (if that proves possible) or just straight turn-based.
In addition to being a good simulation, the scenario is fun and not that difficult to play (in contrast to my conclusions about “France 1944 D-Day”, some may recall). The test was started on March 3rd and ended on May 28th. But several out-of-town projects interrupted the gaming. The actual total days gaming was only 24 (for 21 turns, playing both sides). In fact, a turn-a-day could be leisurely produced without much effort. And the effort required got smaller as the game progressed. Plus, the absence of ant-unit tactics allowed me to focus on realistic deployments. Finally, the game scale allowed strategic factors to be concentrated on: When to strip Italy, when to concentrate on Berlin, when and where to focus offensive efforts, etc.
The test confirmed my advice at the beginning about the need for the German player to take care about where he positions his HQs. It then follows that the Allied player needs to be aware (if possible) of where those German HQs are deployed and take action accordingly. Supported defenders are much tougher than unsupported ones. The attacks on supported positions need to be tailored judiciously, especially with regard to Soviet rifle armies. If possible, supporting units need to be dislodged (to remove their support) ahead of heavy attacks on supported positions.
While a wargame is a game, I think of it as a learning journey, as well. On those journeys, one learns things one doesn’t usually glean from written accounts. Even in a beer-and-pretzel style game, as this one is, there are things to learn. Here, one learns mostly about matters of scale. You can tell at a glance that the eastern front was twice the size of the western front, for example. And you learn that the Bulge offensive wasn’t such a big deal, compared to the rest of the 1945 campaign. You learn what murderous odds the Soviet riflemen faced, as well as Allied armor in general. While playing, don’t forget to enjoy the journey as well.
