Post by SgtFury on Jun 11, 2018 4:01:52 GMT
After reading several books on the history of the 1940 German invasion of Norway I came away with a few important thoughts concerning the amount of snow on the ground during that time period and how the allies and axis forces dealt with it.
The winter of 1939-40 was a very cold and snowy season for Norway. In the southern areas there were several inches on the ground. In the northern areas around Narvik there were several FEET of snow! So to varying degrees, snow was a factor throughout the months of April & May in Norway. The British forces were the least prepared for the conditions they encountered. History books describe UK forces as being nearly road bound where they operated in Central Norway. In the northern parts around Narvik the Brits opted to take on a mostly supporting role providing naval forces and logistical support. In agreement with their French, Polish and Norwegian allies, they relied on them to do the bulk of the ground fighting. In central Norway, UK forces relied on Norwegian ski troops to provide flank protection and scouting. Norwegian forces did the bulk of the fighting north of Narvik, French mountain & legionaire forces fought in support with them and Polish mountain troops landed south of Narvik and pushed on from there. The German Wehrmacht sent a lot of Gebirgsjaegers to the fighting in central and northern Norway. These troops were better prepared than UK forces, but a lot of their equipment was lost due to allied subs sinking their supply ships. They made up for the loss by seizing Norwegian equipment from the various depots that they captured.
Now lets talk about the terrain....
Norway is a very hilly / mountainous country. So far the general terrain for my game maps is depicted as either river valleys with mountains / hills on either side or valleys with hills / frozen lakes / frozen rivers. Most of the fighting occurred in these valleys along either a roadway, railroad line or along side a river running through the valley. Some of my later game maps will depict battles that occurred on mountain tops or very high hills. So to get around without the benefit of a road or rail line is difficult if you don't have the ability to put skis on your troops feet. But without ski training, UK troops just couldn't do what Norwegian ski troops, French mountain troops and German gebirgsjaegers could do.
So how to simulate all of this so that I can be somewhat true to the history of the campaign....
Most AAM scenarios / games do not deal with mountains very much, but WotC did come up with a terrain tile for it. Basically, Vehicles and Soldiers have to make a successful movement roll to enter it. Even with skis, rugged mountains would be difficult to transverse, so no extra movement will be allowed using a Ski Capable SA.
Hills - Unlike what we usually deal with on an AAM game board, all of the hills for my Norway maps will be assumed to have snow on them. For Vehicles, it's the same as mountains. You have to make a successful movement roll. For soldiers, it's a bit different. Without the ability to wear skis, ground troops' movement is severely hampered. My way of handling "Snowy Hill" terrain for soldiers is to say they can't enter it during the movement phase, but they can enter it during the assault phase. I think this extra effort reflects the difficulty that was faced by non-skiing troops. So how do Ski Capable troops handle hills? They can move normally onto Snowy Hills during the movement phase. This reflects their ability to move over the snow rather than having to fight through it like ski-less troops.
But how good should this Ski Capable special ability be?.....
Up to this point I said they get a free second move as long as they move over two hexes of snow. (Clear with snow, forest with snow, hill with snow, etc.) But a question came up during playtesting concerning the second move going into a snowy forest, snowy town or snowy road hex. How did this help or hinder the soldier? I started to make a list of exceptions and conditions, but then I realized this was getting to be too much. I don't want players constantly checking the rules to see if they can or can't make the second hex move. I think the wording of the Ski Capable SA needs to be rethought / redone. Right now the SA is worded this way:
Ski Capable - In snow this unit has speed 2 in the movement phase.
I'm thinking to reword it this way:
Ski Capable - With a successful movement roll, this unit gets +1 movement in the movement phase if the first hex it enters is a snow hex.
A snow hex would be defined as a snow covered clear, forest, town or hill hex. You would not get this bonus move if you entered a mountain, frozen lake, river or marsh hex or cross a stream or bluffs hexside terrain. Road and railroad terrain would not effect this SA. It would go by the base terrain in the hex.
Using the special abilities Mountaineering (+1 to movement roll), Command SA Sweat saves blood! (+1 to movement roll) and Command SA Alpine (movement rolls may be rerolled) you can increase your chances for a successful movement roll.
So the effect of all this is to create ground forces that could move much better over snowy terrain and act as a flanking force verses the enemy.
What do you think of the reworded Ski Capable special ability? Is its' meaning clear? Should it be worded differently?
The winter of 1939-40 was a very cold and snowy season for Norway. In the southern areas there were several inches on the ground. In the northern areas around Narvik there were several FEET of snow! So to varying degrees, snow was a factor throughout the months of April & May in Norway. The British forces were the least prepared for the conditions they encountered. History books describe UK forces as being nearly road bound where they operated in Central Norway. In the northern parts around Narvik the Brits opted to take on a mostly supporting role providing naval forces and logistical support. In agreement with their French, Polish and Norwegian allies, they relied on them to do the bulk of the ground fighting. In central Norway, UK forces relied on Norwegian ski troops to provide flank protection and scouting. Norwegian forces did the bulk of the fighting north of Narvik, French mountain & legionaire forces fought in support with them and Polish mountain troops landed south of Narvik and pushed on from there. The German Wehrmacht sent a lot of Gebirgsjaegers to the fighting in central and northern Norway. These troops were better prepared than UK forces, but a lot of their equipment was lost due to allied subs sinking their supply ships. They made up for the loss by seizing Norwegian equipment from the various depots that they captured.
Now lets talk about the terrain....
Norway is a very hilly / mountainous country. So far the general terrain for my game maps is depicted as either river valleys with mountains / hills on either side or valleys with hills / frozen lakes / frozen rivers. Most of the fighting occurred in these valleys along either a roadway, railroad line or along side a river running through the valley. Some of my later game maps will depict battles that occurred on mountain tops or very high hills. So to get around without the benefit of a road or rail line is difficult if you don't have the ability to put skis on your troops feet. But without ski training, UK troops just couldn't do what Norwegian ski troops, French mountain troops and German gebirgsjaegers could do.
So how to simulate all of this so that I can be somewhat true to the history of the campaign....
Most AAM scenarios / games do not deal with mountains very much, but WotC did come up with a terrain tile for it. Basically, Vehicles and Soldiers have to make a successful movement roll to enter it. Even with skis, rugged mountains would be difficult to transverse, so no extra movement will be allowed using a Ski Capable SA.
Hills - Unlike what we usually deal with on an AAM game board, all of the hills for my Norway maps will be assumed to have snow on them. For Vehicles, it's the same as mountains. You have to make a successful movement roll. For soldiers, it's a bit different. Without the ability to wear skis, ground troops' movement is severely hampered. My way of handling "Snowy Hill" terrain for soldiers is to say they can't enter it during the movement phase, but they can enter it during the assault phase. I think this extra effort reflects the difficulty that was faced by non-skiing troops. So how do Ski Capable troops handle hills? They can move normally onto Snowy Hills during the movement phase. This reflects their ability to move over the snow rather than having to fight through it like ski-less troops.
But how good should this Ski Capable special ability be?.....
Up to this point I said they get a free second move as long as they move over two hexes of snow. (Clear with snow, forest with snow, hill with snow, etc.) But a question came up during playtesting concerning the second move going into a snowy forest, snowy town or snowy road hex. How did this help or hinder the soldier? I started to make a list of exceptions and conditions, but then I realized this was getting to be too much. I don't want players constantly checking the rules to see if they can or can't make the second hex move. I think the wording of the Ski Capable SA needs to be rethought / redone. Right now the SA is worded this way:
Ski Capable - In snow this unit has speed 2 in the movement phase.
I'm thinking to reword it this way:
Ski Capable - With a successful movement roll, this unit gets +1 movement in the movement phase if the first hex it enters is a snow hex.
A snow hex would be defined as a snow covered clear, forest, town or hill hex. You would not get this bonus move if you entered a mountain, frozen lake, river or marsh hex or cross a stream or bluffs hexside terrain. Road and railroad terrain would not effect this SA. It would go by the base terrain in the hex.
Using the special abilities Mountaineering (+1 to movement roll), Command SA Sweat saves blood! (+1 to movement roll) and Command SA Alpine (movement rolls may be rerolled) you can increase your chances for a successful movement roll.
So the effect of all this is to create ground forces that could move much better over snowy terrain and act as a flanking force verses the enemy.
What do you think of the reworded Ski Capable special ability? Is its' meaning clear? Should it be worded differently?