1 - Victory Point Games

NO RETREAT 3: THE French Front: May-JUNE 1940 v2.4 19path is blocked by EZOCs (after theGermans advanced from an earlier battle thatturn), the unit is eliminated instead (10.7.1)and placed in the Destroyed Units Box (sinceit did not have an Unsupplied marker on it;if it did, it would go to the Surrendered UnitsBox instead). Two of the attacking unitsadvance into the hex but can go no further asthe Major River stops a multi-hex advance.Note that if a French unit were adjacent tothe 9th Army, say in the Forest hex west ofit, then the 9th could have retreated safely,as friendly units negate EZOCs for retreatpurposes (10.7.6, 3rd Bullet).Below is the situation at the start of theFrench player’s Turn 2. The French playershakes his head at the situation before him.Initiative markers (from his remaining poolof 5) to place on the map two Counterblowmarkers on his own units, thus forcing theFrench to attack two hexes right away!Moves and situation in the Combat Phase:With the final and largest attack nowresolved, Guderian, Reinhardt andsupporting infantry go against the French2nd Army. The Initial ratio is 18:5, which is3-1 Odds. They are shifted two left (2) forthe Forest plus the Major River hexside, so3-2 Odds, which is not good!As you can see in these combat examples, itis very difficult to make powerful attacks,even with overwhelming force, against anenemy in good defensive terrain. You mustuse the right combinations of Combat cardsto ‘make things happen.’ Getting out of theArdennes is not easy!The German player uses yet another card:Achtung Panzer!, doubling the strength ofhis Panzers. This raises the ratio back up to3-1 Odds. A roll of 5 gives a DS + result:the defending unit retreats 3 hexes andreceives a Disorganized marker; the ‘+’(German Cross) awards the German playereither a Battle VP or an Initiative marker.Having spent a lot of the latter (3 Blitz! and2 for the Event cards), he takes the freeInitiative marker. The attacking unitsadvance into the hex, but must then stopbecause of the Major River.The Panzers are starting to break through!During the Reserve Phase at the end of theTurn, the German player takes from theReserve holding box his 12th Army(b) andplaces it on the Western tip of the Ardennes.The French player also releases his lastReserve unit, the Keller Tank unit,nervously deploying it in the city of Reims.Remember, you can place Reserve unitsduring your Opponent’s Turn!Since it is still early in the game, the Frenchplayer has to put his Target markers on themap during his Organization Phase beforemoving! This means that his units will not beable to attack the German spearheads (as nounits are adjacent to them so that they can be‘lit up’ with French Target markers at thistime). Instead, he can only assemble adefensive line in the rear to hold the Panzers.Movement & Counterblow ExampleFrench troop movement is as shown in theillustration in the next column. The 2ndArmy cannot go far since it is Disorganizedand thus has only 1MP and the Keller unitcannot move adjacent to the Germanbridgehead across the Meuse River as itdoes not have enough MPs to reach it (itcosts +1MP to enter an EZOC).The rest of the French 1st Army is broughtfrom north of the map to shore up thecrumbling defenses. As he is not attackinganywhere else along the entire front lines,the French player uses the MaximeWeygand card to receive 3 badly neededInitiative markers at the start of his Turn. Hespends one of these to rebuild, at halfstrength,the destroyed 9th Army, which isautomatically added to the Reserve Box forfree (see 7.5 & 7.7).He could not also Improve that unit all theway back to full strength this turn, as theFlip Phase takes place before the ReplacementPhase (7.0) – this sequencing isimportant!After the French player completes hismovement, the German player smirks andplays Operational Feint (costing theGerman player one Initiative marker) andallowing the German player to move twoPanzer units into contact with the enemy!During the French Combat Phase, eventhough the French player has planned noattacks, the German player spends 2 moreSo, there will be three battles, all forced byCounterblow markers on German hexes.The Phasing Player (the French) plays hislast good attack card: Bataille Conduite , toadd +3 Strength to each of his battles,deciding to attack the German 16thArmy(a) first. He could use all the units inthe “Maginot 3” areas, or only some of them,as long as the Counterblow hex is attacked.He decides to use them all: the 3rd Armyand the three Maginot 3 Forts.Even though white-strength units (i.e., theForts) cannot normally attack, in the case ofa Counterblow they can (see 10.7.3).The ratio is 10:5, which is 2-1 Odds. Thereare no Defensive Terrain Bonuses in aCounterblow battle (it’s the same as aCounterattack). For this ‘sideshow’operation, neither side plays cards. A roll of3 on the French Attrition Table yieldsanother CB result! This time theCounterblow marker is placed on theFrench (Phasing) units. The Battle rages on!Next, the 1st Army(b) attacks the 12thArmy(b). This attacking unit could havechosen to attack the two adjacent Panzersalso, but given the odds of that he prefers torisk losing his tank unit instead. The ratio is9:5, which is 3-2 Odds, again with no terrainmodifiers in a Counterblow battle. A roll of3 on the French Attrition Table gives aCA result, but the German player declinesto counterattack at such low odds, and so theend result is No Effect.The last combat sees the Keller Tank unitbattling head-on with the flower of Hitler’sElite Mobile Troops. The ratio is 6:10,which is 1-2 odds. (There is no Tank bonussince the opponents have Panzers). Withoutthe previously played French Event card, theRatio/Odds would have been 3:10 / 1-4. This© 2012 Carl Paradis and Victory Point Games