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Of course ernie is welcomed. He is a longtime partner in scenario development and wargaming.

Update:

Progress is slowly but steadily being made on this scenario.

In what was already a quite large and unit-heavy game, playability has been improved by eliminating many of the “house rules” that were present earlier. The largely redundant “air cargo” ability (which allowed cargo or convoy ships to transport some types of aircraft overseas) has been made an optional rule that is turned off by default.

The biggest change is the game begins with Vichy in place (previously all of France was German and the French colonies were Free French). This should address the game balance issues arising from an overpowered Allied presence in North Africa.

This implementation of Vichy adds not just balance, but hopefully interest as well. To achieve this, events and a few action cards give both the Allies and Axis a number of options. The Scenario Brief provides full information.

Vichy is initially set up as a separate Regime. Its status is “sleeping” so it has no production or movement, but it is allied with the Axis, so Axis units may move into its territory to augment its defences if required.

The four Vichy colonies of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Lebanon/Syria operate separately, allowing the Allies to conduct operations against them and Corsica individually.

Germany has the option - which it can play at any time - of disbanding Vichy. Germany also has an action card that allows it to try and capture the French fleet.

If Germany does not disband Vichy France, the allies can cause its demise by a D-Day style invasion. If sufficient allied forces land in France, Vichy France will collapse. Following the invasion, the Allied player has the option, via action card, to return all recaptured French territory to French control.

If no problems arise in solo play testing I will post a revised scenario file on Dropbox in the near future. The new action cards will require graphics but as no other graphics have been added at this stage, I will initially restrict the update to just the scenario file. The new version will be Beta05.

I think it's good to go. Only needed to get to Beta04.

Dropbox has been updated with the latest file.

Update:

Currently two playtests of Beta04 are underway. In both games I am playing the western allies plus Russia and my opponents (who are both seasoned players) are playing the Axis.

I am pleased to say no game-stopping bugs have been discovered, but my opponents have found a few errors and have contributed valuable suggestions that would improve both the game and the play balance.

All suggestions are being recorded and they will be addressed once play testing is done.

I will advise when an updated version becomes available.

Just wanted to thank Icym for a well played game. I came close to Moscow, but in the end, the winter got me

Honestly this is a great mod, you guys are in for a treat once it becomes available.

And thank you Ernie for a tough, hard-fought contest. You taught me quite a lot.

This was one of the first opportunities to play the scenario competitively and it behaved pretty well.

I must thank my opponents (Bombur and Ernie, in two separate games) for making excellent suggestions during play. They will help make the game an even better experience.

Implementing fixes and improvements is currently underway and this will take quite a while.

For anyone following this thread, work is done on this project every day, so it is not stagnating.

Playing confirmed that this is a big game, with a playing time (and a development time) to match.

Any room for another tester on this mod ? I've just freed up from one of my other games.

Additional testers are always welcome.

At present the game is temporarily on hold. We are moving house this weekend and have family coming to stay at the new place next week for a reunion and birthday party. The new house does not have a phone/internet connection yet, that should be done early next week. I am about to disconnect the PC from the old house and move it to the new one, so I'll be off air for a few days.

Good news is over 40 improvements and a few known bugs have been attended to in the existing scenario. There still a couple of items I want to change, including increasing the movement allowance of land units. I'll do that whenever I can fit it in. I also have a commitment to Ernie I must prioritize.

By early October my schedule should be cleared and that would be a good time to start a new game.

Sorry to put you off for the moment but I will post here when the revised edition is ready and hopefully you will have some free time.

Ian.

On page 27 of the manual, 2nd column, 2nd paragraph reads

To lay a naval minefield, move a unit containing 5 or minelayers to a sea hex. You will only be allowed to lay naval mines in a sea hex that is completely surrounded by other sea hexes.

It looks like the word "more" is missing after "5 or".

Chuck

Whoops, thanks for noticing. I have corrected it.

This is a beautiful manual! Few professional games do as well.

Chuck

WOW......I'm just getting into the modding (OK I've been trying to mod for a couple of years but am to stupid to learn much.)

I would love to take a peek under the hood!

Sounds and looks awesome

What a mod - WOW. This is amazing. How far are you by now?

The disruptions from moving house and health and family issues have continued far longer than I anticipated. Apologies to those waiting for a revised version. From this weekend I will finally be "free" once again.

Anyone who wants to take a look can download the scenario from Dropbox (pm me for the link).

Status of current versions on Dropbox:

Triumph Beta01.atzip will install the scenario and associated graphics.

The Triumph Scenario folder on Dropbox contains a newer version of the scenario file "Triumph Beta04" which should be downloaded and used to play the game.

This weekend I will update Dropbox with a new atzip file, which will include Triumph Beta05 and some new graphics. This is the game as it stood in September when progress was temporarily halted.

For players wishing to update from v04 to v05, the new scenario file and graphics will be posted separately along with instructions on where the 14 new graphic files should be placed.

v05 incorporates around 70 changes (not 40 as I stated in an earlier post) and fixes a couple of bugs that were present in the earlier versions.

Although v05 has not been thoroughly tested, as far as I know it is stable and I would recommend its use.

Update: The current version 05 is now available on Dropbox. The Players Guide, updated for v05 is also available.