Scheldt 44 comments

[Kool Kat]

Gents: 


My Allied opponent and I completed the following Scheldt' 44 scenario:

0904_01_Antwerp "Taurus Pursuant" (19-turns).

Here's my game result write-up:

My Allied opponent was able to drive into Antwerp, but was stopped adjacent to the two 100 VP hexes downtown. Once the German entrenched and enjoyed a negative 90% defense advantage in the urban hexes, it seems nearly impossible for the Allies to capture them. I have my doubts on balance too. It appears that the Allies need a lot of luck and maybe some sloppy German play to have a chance at a victory. Not a fan of the set piece and grinding nature of urban battle with morale D and E units! This was my first PBeM Scheldt ' 44 game.

Additional comments:

As the German, I concentrated large unit stacks on the two 100 VP hexes in-city and covered all the perimeter objectives with defending troops. Entrenched all objectives asap. Kept the garrison troops with heavy flak / AT in the bunkers and sortied them out to harass - especially to threaten Allied supply lines. It was only in the last few turns did I send what garrison troops remained into Antwerp. Both the Allies and Germans struggled to make headway against each other within Antwerp. A couple of resistance fighter casualties here... a few German casualties there. Everything was measured in 1-2 men killed increments. Artillery was generally ineffective. The superb Jagdpanther and Stug morale B reinforcements enter too late to make much difference in the outcome. The 40% night disruption rule is brutal. Morale D and E units have no business trying to move off road at night! Overall, combat felt sluggish and ineffective. Honestly, I was not a big fan of this scenario, but am looking forward to seeing how the other Scheldt '44 scenarios play out!

Bing! Bing! Bing! Green (Allied opponent) and me claim first recorded PBeM Scheldt '44 game!  

[Fhil]

Interesting, I´m in the middle of this one as well with one of my opponents. Will also comment after it´s finished. So far, I´m enjoying it pretty much (I command the Allies).

[ComradeP]

As a general note, it would be helpful if formations that arrive piece by piece at the map edge close to enemy units have a dummy off-map divisional HQ that withdraws when the real one arrives.

Similarly, if units attached directly to the divisional HQ are either not Fixed or released before the divisional HQ, it would be helpful to tie the release to that of the divisional assets. The same applies to corps HQ's.

As an example: Allied C&C in Market Garden is a bit of a mess early on as units quickly move out of divisional/corps HQ range, and it doesn't look like there are historical reasons for it.

Also, why is German rail capacity 50 in Market Garden? That's a very high number. Is it a typo and should it be 5? For comparison: the maximum Entente rail capacity in France '14 Early Campaign is 24. In the France '40 campaign, Allied rail capacity is 50 and German rail capacity is 75.

[Mike Prucha]

As a general note, it would be helpful if formations that arrive piece by piece at the map edge close to enemy units have a dummy off-map divisional HQ that withdraws when the real one arrives.

Similarly, if units attached directly to the divisional HQ are either not Fixed or released before the divisional HQ, it would be helpful to tie the release to that of the divisional assets. The same applies to corps HQ's.

As an example: Allied C&C in Market Garden is a bit of a mess early on as units quickly move out of divisional/corps HQ range, and it doesn't look like there are historical reasons for it.

Also, why is German rail capacity 50 in Market Garden? That's a very high number. Is it a typo and should it be 5? For comparison: the maximum Entente rail capacity in France '14 Early Campaign is 24. In the France '40 campaign, Allied rail capacity is 50 and German rail capacity is 75.

Hi ComradP,

Thanks for the observations.

You are right, the rail values are incorrect. We will address this at some point along some other issues that have cropped up. In the meantime, if you wanted to correct your own copy, the intended rail values is Germany 15 Allies 0.

The release time for XII Corps HQ and arrival of VIII Corps HQ are very deliberate and are intended to blunt the effectiveness of those two corps in the opening days of the campaign. XII Corps was stretched out over an impractically wide front for the first few days of the campaign and VIII Corps was entirely unready and unable to support a major attack on the 17th. These releases/arrivals will not be changed. XXX Corps' HQ corresponds to when it historically moved up into the Netherlands. The original intent for the late release was to slow down the Corps advance, however in hindsight the historical justification is weak and other steps have been taken which more or less nullify the original purpose of delaying the release. We'll move this release forward to an earlier time as you suggest.

We will probably not be adding extra or dummy HQs and withdrawing them. I am not sure exactly which scenarios you are referring to, but at least in the case of Meijel, Vitality II, Walcheren, and many of the September-period scenarios (and maybe some others that I am forgetting) the delayed arrival of command elements and resultant supply issues is intentional. 

As far as timing releases of corps and divisional assets to correspond to their parent HQ, I would need to know more specifically which scenario & formation you are referring to and otherwise can't comment as to whether something is purposeful or an oversight. If there is a significant problem with a release in a scenario, I would be eager to fix it. 


Thanks again for your feedback!

-Mike P

[Fhil]

As a general note, it would be helpful if formations that arrive piece by piece at the map edge close to enemy units have a dummy off-map divisional HQ that withdraws when the real one arrives.

Similarly, if units attached directly to the divisional HQ are either not Fixed or released before the divisional HQ, it would be helpful to tie the release to that of the divisional assets. The same applies to corps HQ's.

As an example: Allied C&C in Market Garden is a bit of a mess early on as units quickly move out of divisional/corps HQ range, and it doesn't look like there are historical reasons for it.

Also, why is German rail capacity 50 in Market Garden? That's a very high number. Is it a typo and should it be 5? For comparison: the maximum Entente rail capacity in France '14 Early Campaign is 24. In the France '40 campaign, Allied rail capacity is 50 and German rail capacity is 75.

Hi ComradP,

Thanks for the observations.

You are right, the rail values are incorrect. We will address this at some point along some other issues that have cropped up. In the meantime, if you wanted to correct your own copy, the intended rail values is Germany 15 Allies 0.

The release time for XII Corps HQ and arrival of VIII Corps HQ are very deliberate and are intended to blunt the effectiveness of those two corps in the opening days of the campaign. XII Corps was stretched out over an impractically wide front for the first few days of the campaign and VIII Corps was entirely unready and unable to support a major attack on the 17th. These releases/arrivals will not be changed. XXX Corps' HQ corresponds to when it historically moved up into the Netherlands. The original intent for the late release was to slow down the Corps advance, however in hindsight the historical justification is weak and other steps have been taken which more or less nullify the original purpose of delaying the release. We'll move this release forward to an earlier time as you suggest.

We will probably not be adding extra or dummy HQs and withdrawing them. I am not sure exactly which scenarios you are referring to, but at least in the case of Meijel, Vitality II, Walcheren, and many of the September-period scenarios (and maybe some others that I am forgetting) the delayed arrival of command elements and resultant supply issues is intentional. 

As far as timing releases of corps and divisional assets to correspond to their parent HQ, I would need to know more specifically which scenario & formation you are referring to and otherwise can't comment as to whether something is purposeful or an oversight. If there is a significant problem with a release in a scenario, I would be eager to fix it. 


Thanks again for your feedback!

-Mike P

Is the German Rail Capacity of 50 incorrect only ifor the Market Garden scenario or is that the case for all other scenarios too? Same value can be seen in the Herbst Sturm campaign and probably elsewhere too. Easy fix for players themselves before starting the scenario, I just want to know :)

[Outlaw Josey Wales]

I don't know, but, I could see some sort of Rail capacity during night turns, not day, due to air superiority. Some day and night in Germany itself, not France and the Low countries. Besides Air Superiority, you had resistance hits as well.