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Cracking the Meuse Line - PzC 05 Bulge '44

Cracking the Meuse Line Image
Tiller Operational Campaigns Ladder

Cracking the Meuse Line

By Marquo
Allies 1 - 0 - 0 Germany
Rating: 2.2 (1)
Games Played: 1
SM: 5
Turns: 150
Type: Custom
First Side: Allies
Second Side: Germany
Downloads: 265
Spring 1944. The Axis smashed the Allied line last winter, having adopted a more conservative "lesser solution." Liege and Namur have fallen, mostly because the Allies ran like hell to safety beyond the Meuse, where they have regrouped. For the rest of the winter and spring the Axis has fortified the Meuse River Line, and turned the whole damn thing into a fortress with bunkers, pillboxes, mines, antitank ditches...impregnable, so they think. Even pieces of the Siegfried line have been moved west. The units of both sides are well-rested, supplied and refitted. The entire OOB of Bulge'44 is on the field. Ike and Monty have been staring at the damn thing, and have not even come close to figuring a way to take it by frontal assault. Stalin, pissed off at their inaction, has halted his armies on the Vistula, and has even threatened to call a temporary truce with the Axis, until the Western Allies do something, anything to lessen the bloodshed of the Frontoviks. During the mass retreat, the 106th American Infantry Division was cutoff and surrounded, and Ike gave the word for them to surrender en masse, to avoid useless slaughter. They are presently held in captivity in a large POW camp east of Bastogne, and Ike has made it a personal point of honor to free them from their captors. April 1st 1945, in the darkness the drone of thousands of planes can be heard, heading east over the Meuse, carrying no less than 4 Allied Parachute Divisions to secret drop points. Can these guys lead the way Back To Bastogne? And believe me, this ain't going to a be a pinic. The faint-hearted need not download it. Essential House Rules 1. Only Allied Engineers and Airborne units may combine/breakdown. No other Allied units may breakdown. 2. Use No Locking ZOC - do not activate locking ZOC. 3. Use Artillery Setup, recon, virtual supply trucks, night fatigue and programmed weather. Also, Axis may not move any unspotted units until the third move. Notes: The PDT file has been tweaked to allow dawn and dusk moves, artillery stockpiling, increased replacements for both sides, and less Axis vehicle breakdown - on the theory that Russian pressure has lessened until the Western Allies "prove themselves" to Stalin's satisfaction. Good Luck. Also, please no whining about the Allied Air Power - at this point nuclear weapons would have been a serious option.
Player Voting Stats
Member Balance Enjoyment
Oldman's ProfileOldman Totally Pro Allies 4
Gaming Records
1st Side Player 2nd Side Player Result Score
Allies crazyivan's Profile crazyivan vs. Oldman Oldman's Profile Germany Allies Major Victory 90 10
Oldman
Lots of fun to play with the full armies but there are problems. The imprisoned 106th Div. is armed and does not stay fixed. Either change the parameters or put a house rule in effect to eliminate their future use (or use one of the SS divisions to kill them off). Also, after a very tough 2-day Meuse crossing and airborne sacrifice the Germans will loose 7 or 8 of their river-defending divisions and all of the non-moveable (180+) guns and it's all down hill from there. I'd suggest upgrading the morale of all infantry divions by one letter in the parameter values before playing which will allow the remnants of the Meuse crossing a chance to get away as well as delaying the crossing a bit longer. Also, give the non-moving artillery movement values. Since this is 1945 and the Russians are sitting on their hands a reinforcement of 3rd and 5th SS divisions (from the Budapest game) could be added as a turn 40 help to the Germans. Beef them up to Bulge levels or they'll be a waste.