[WarInEur] France 1940

[Jean-Marc Charbin]

Greetings,
        Here are my thoughts on the France 40 situation in CWiE II.
        The Allies for the mostpart are doomed. It would take nothing short of a miracle to save them.  I do not think anything should be done to CWiE II increase the strength or position of the Allies. Their fate was sealed when they declared war against a vastly superior and better prepared enemy.
         In game terms the German player should defeat France by the end of the 6/4/40 The campaign historically lasted 6 weeks. Keep in mind that Fascist Italy declared war on France June 10th which is only four game turns. So historically in game terms you should be next to Paris in 4 turns. Capture it on turn 5 and obtain a French Capitulation on turn 6 CWiE II should make this possible if it wants to call itself a "simulation"...
        The main problem with the France 40 campaign is the hindsight factor. The Allied player will not deploy his forces like the French actually did. This is where things start to breakdown. The French and BEF should have a fixed set up that corresponds to their actual historical May 1940 deployment. Sadly, the CWiE II France 40 set up that is in the game does not reflect this. If this was to be corrected then the historical results can easily be obtained.The Allied player should not be allowed the "gamey" tactic of placing several rows of single units creating a defense in depth of several hexes behind large stacks awaiting an attack from the Ardennes. Allowing the Allies to have a free set-up is what is causing most of the problems! 
        I of course have fixed this and created an accurate OOB that places all Allied forces in France where they belong on May 10, 1940. This new set up makes for an excellent recreation of this campaign.  I also added The Paris "open city rule". No French units are allowed to end their turn in Paris. This rule goes into effect when a supplied German unit enters any hex in France. The purpose of this rule is that the French Government had declared Paris an open city to avoid damage to the city and its many works of art. 
        These changes now make the drive to Abbeville and the encirclement of the BEF a possibility on the first turn of the campaign as it should be. From a gaming standpoint the Allies situation will be fatally compromised, as it was, by the end of the first turn. The first turn "MUST" be decisive in the France 40 campaign. It should be possible to re-create the "Manstein plan" in CWiE II game terms  Sincerely, J.M.
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