Fall Green

[John B.]

It's now the Czech turn 17 and things are looking grim. The Germans have pushed on from Svitavy and Ostrova and the Czech forces are slowly falling apart. The german airforce on interdiction has been relentless with 20+ ground strikes against the Czechs per Czech movement phase. Basically, Bohemia is being forced into one giant pocket at Prague with Bratislava being left alone in the south.

But, all is not lost. There is a seesaw fight over Bruno (worth 10 VP). The germans captured it and were pushed out again. They pushed out the czech defenders but did not have enough MP left to retake it before the Czech turn. I'm not sure how those forces stay in supply but I'll retake the town, dig in as much as I can and hope for the best. There were limited Czech counter attacks that reopened the route to Plzen in the West and the Germans have not attacked there in more than a week giving the defenders a chance to rest up. Just about 3 turns left in the game!

[John B.]

On to turn 19. The game is likely to end at any turn now. As you can see, massive German losses and the failure to take additional VP hexes mean that German is still headed for an overwhelming defeat.

[John B.]

The Western Allies are useless! No doubt cynically letting the Czechs bleed the Germans in the hopes that (a) Hitler gets overthrown and (b) the German army is too weak to take on any additional tasks. And, more of Bohemia is basically just ruins. But, another high value German unit is destroyed.

[John B.]

The Czechs, alas, are getting much weaker as you can see by the higher losses levels and the German success. I've kept a number of divisions near Prague to preserve the high VP hexes but that has put a greater burden on other fronts and those troops are just getting worn out.

[John B.]

The Czech front lines are being squeezed into a sausage. Prague continues to be solid but Germans are heading that way from the west. There is a German pocket down near Bruno. The German panzer regiment held off three attacks last turn causing heaving Czech losses even though it's isolated. But, if it falls the rest of the pocket is just HQ and artillery and could yeild lots of nice prisoners for the newsreels. Plzen continues to hold but now it's cut off again.

[John B.]

In the end it was determined that Blitzkrieg was the failed concept that could never succeed against well entrenched defenders. "Generals are always forgetting to fight the last war in their haste to find something new" was the lesson learned from the failed invasion of Czechoslovakia. Hitler died unmourned, Churchill remained stained forever by the disgrace of Gallipoli and Chamberlain's policy of appeasement was hailed as the new key to peace; at least until an unmauled Soviet Union made its own move into Poland.

[John B.]

As you can see, the German losses were very heavy!

[John B.]

More German losses.

[John B.]

So many tanks destroyed!

[John B.]

The Czechs did not get off cheap.

[John B.]

More Czech losses.

[John B.]

The Czechs did not lose nearly as much armor.

[John B.]

The final map.

One the whole I'd rate this scenario as a 5/10 if playing the Czechs. This is not because of any shortcoming in teh game itself but more from the strategic situation. The Czech's don't have an opportunity to do much and really just benefit from hunkering down. The German AI was ok but put itself into two pockets that wound up with lots of dead equipment. The Germans also gave up on Bratislava which a human player might not ignore since taking it cuts Czech supply levels. I had a good time but I think this game would be more fun played from the German side.

Thanks for reading!

[IainF]

Thanks for that John, an enjoyable read and the forces of good triumphed too!

Do you think it would be a good one for a PBEM, and would you be interested?

[devoncop]

ORIGINAL: IainF

Thanks for that John, an enjoyable read and the forces of good triumphed too!

Do you think it would be a good one for a PBEM, and would you be interested?

+1

Really interesting seeing other scenarios played.
Nice job.[&o]

[John B.]

Thanks guys! IainF, let me take a break to figure out the PBEM rules and then I'd be happy to play the scenario with you.