The Woensdrecht Isthmus scenario released

[Phoenix100]

Hey Huib. Thanks for the scenario. I just had a first shot at it, as allies, with orders delay standard, but with reinforcements and supply in my favour, and had great fun. It was easy enough, I think with everything set in my favour. I had a lot of men to play with and did everything obvious - taking all the objectives by day 6. Biggest scrap was around Huibergen, but I held it easily. The axis surrendered on day 7. I'll play it with everything set to standard next - and will no doubt have to be more involved - but it was very enjoyable and engrossing even with the easy ride. Great stuff. Thanks. Would have been nice to have been able to go for Flushing and Middleburg afterwards. I know the area, as we live in Brussels at the moment. It's such a beautiful example of Dutch order - Walkeren especially (though this isn't quite in your scenario) - everything very neat, tidy, calm and, of course, new. I hadn't realised at all, when I visited, that so many people had died there. You would not believe there had been such fierce fighting, such horrific acts. One of the great things about this game series is that it is historical and accurate, so teaches you something too. Next time I take the road from Antwerp up through Holland I'll detour a little and look at it all with very different perceptions.

[Phoenix100]

I should add - the scenario also inspired me to look into the history of the ofensive, about which I'd known nothing previously. I did know about the big battle for Walcheren, but not those covered by the scenario and shortly after.

[Huib]

Thanks. There are still a lot things related to the battle to be seen in that area. Foxholes, trenches etc. Although unfortunately rapidly disappearing, especially the last few years. In Holland authorities generally don't care about preservation of historical sites.
The amphibious operations on Walcheren would be hard to present in this game series, but the operation previous to Walcheren, Operation Switchback the battle for the Breskens pocket is a good possibility.

There are some photos of this former battlefield on my website (that I haven't touched for way too long) Battlegroundstoday

Btw the scn should also be well playable from the German side (all options normal)

Huib

[Phoenix100]

Huib, in terms of accuracy, is the airfield north-east of Hoogerheide where it was in '44? There's a larger area on Google earth further north which is an airfield, and the area you have marked as an airfield is forested and some kind of (possibly military) complex, with a running track etc. Assuming you have it right, which map did you use?

[Huib]

The current airfield is at a different location (more to the north). The old airfield now contains buildings of the new airbase, some woods and even an athletic track as I saw on Google Earth.
The map I used is a 1943 German military 1:50.000 map. I actually have a 1940's 1:25.000 version as well but I didn't use that one.

[wodin]

@phoenix...to really play the game the way it was ment to you should really try realistic order delay...all testing of original scenarios was done with this order delay...

Give it ago it really makes the game more interesting.

[Phoenix100]

Realistic. yes. That's what I do, Wodin. I wrote 'standard', I think, by accident. there is no 'standard' orders delay, in fact. I meant realistic. I agree, it's much more interesting that way, though I've certainly never been aware of getting inside the AI's command loop (or however it was Arjuna described it in the tutorial video) as a consequence....

Thanks Huib. Fanatstic stuff. Great work on your part, I think. Where on earth did you manage to locate a German military map???

Another of the brilliant things about this game is that you can have google earth running alongside, to give a keener flavour of what is happening to the little counters.

[Huib]

ORIGINAL: phoenix



Thanks Huib. Fanatstic stuff. Great work on your part, I think. Where on earth did you manage to locate a German military map???

I have some original WW2 maps (German and Allied) of this area, but these are 1:100.000. For better scale I used reprints, first bought separately at the topographical service here, later an atlas was released with all German 1:50.000 maps. I bought that one.

[Phoenix100]

Well, that was certainly a different kettle of fish. I played it today on standard/default settings (still realistic delay) and it was a hard nasty fight. All I could manage was a draw. But it was a great scenario. The fighting at Huijbergen dragged everything in. I had to abandon Woensdrecht and got no where near the causeway. 4,500 kills on each side, roughly. The Germans got 60 points to my 46. I set off with roughly the same tactics I used when I played with supply and reinforcements set in my favour, and that meant I seriously underestimated the axis strength. The computer AI performed brilliantly, I think. Huijbergen was a massive fight, littered with surrenders, on both sides. To win this - as allies - I think you would need to really play intelligently with flanking manouevers and really micro manage the melee at Huijbergen, timing and coordinating attacks and not just letting the AI run with it. That's what I'll do next. It was a great scenario. I'm not super-experienced and I enjoyed this a little more than the Bulge defensive scenarios because it's nice to attack (I love the Epsom scanarios for the same reasons), because this one is of a really manageable size (with reinforcements arriving in neat packages), because you don't feel hemmed in by the map as you do with most Bulge defensive scenarios (the flanks look wide open for manouevers in this one) and then you also have to defend as well, which is great. A great choice and great job, I think. Thanks again. It doesn't feel like a fait accompli, whereas many of the Bulge scenarios do (you have to pity the Germans on those roads with all that heavy materiel) - though this is a strength, I'm sure, because looking at it historically you would have to think that Wacht am Rhein was a crazy idea, bound to fail.

[Huib]

Thanks Phoenix. Glad you enjoyed it. I really like the replayability of this game series. When I did the testrun playing as Allied the main fight was in Hoogerheide and the Causeway. Looks like the battle can take a whole different turn each time it is played.

[Seydlitz69]

Is this intended to b played as the Allies? Or could it be played as German?

[Huib]

ORIGINAL: Seydlitz69

Is this intended to b played as the Allies? Or could it be played as German?

No preference. It can be played from both sides.

[Phoenix100]

Absolutely, Huib. Third time I played I managed a marginal victory, but made the mistake of assuming the fight was always going to be around Huijbergen, so set up my attacks to cover that. Wrong. The computer went for Hoogerheide. However, in the scrap that ensued around there a handful of my units got shunted north of Hoogerheide, around day 10. I grouped them into an ad hoc task force, reinforced them and sent them off to probe the big VP locations at Woensdrecht and the causeway, just in case the Axis had left them empty. They had! I managed to hold both through to the end, though never took either Hoogerheide or Huijbergen completely, but scraped a marginal victory that way. Good stuff.

[gabeeg]

Huib,

I am only on Day four of this scenario...but just got to tell you, this is my favorite scenario as of now. I only played 8 scenarios so far in BftB..but hey it is still a compliment

[Wiggum]

Where can idownload the latest version of this ?

[hjc]

I had a go at this as the Germans and Huib, I loved this scenario. One of the most enjoyable scenarios I have played so far. Playing with realistic orders delay I had a decisive victory - only the second time that's happened for me.

I had to give up Ossendrecht early on but managed to re-take it by day 9.

Managed to hang on to everything else, except when I bungled a defend order thus losing Woensdrecht which fell to a surprise attack on the morning of the 11th day, after changing hands twice before.

All up very satisfying because it wasn't only defend as the germans, I had to do plenty of counterattacking and had a few scrambles to react to changing attack axis. At times I felt like I was playing 3 scenarios at once, because of such different situations happening in different locations. A large part of the enjoyment (apart from actually winning for a change) was having plenty of map to manoeuvre on, and the length of time - 11 days - giving both sides time to rest and formulate new plans.

Thanks so much for your efforts with this, and I hope we see more from you. cheers

[Phoenix100]

Huib. Do you know if I can play this scenario - one of my favourites - with the HTTR release? What would happen to all the changes made making mortar teams part of the company etc?