[WarInEur] Axis Blitz Bonus

[Paul S. Person]

On Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:10:57 -0800, "Paul S. Person"
<psplists at earthlink.net> wrote:

>CWIE-2 1.1.04
>Game Editor
>Editing a 1939 Campaign Scenario

<snippo>

I finally got around to doing some testing. This was done with four
new Hotseat games based on the 1939 Campaign Scenario itself with all
the defaults left strictly alone.

Results were quite interesting. It took a little time to figure out
what was happening.

With Respect to Western Hostilities

On the turn that the Axis Player DOWs Holland (note: DOWs on
Luxembourt or Belgium should have the same effect; just plain
attacking France might well have the same effect) produces these
effects, all from BWIE-1 Rule 40.44 (a special rule section for the
1940 France scenario):

1.German units pay only 1 MP to enter/exit Allied ZOCs.
2.German Air Interdiction adds 4 MPs per hex.
3.Allied Infantry cannot Force March.
4.Allied Rail Movement is not allowed on the first turn of the Axis
attack on France.

The first three were announced at the start of the Western Allied
Reinforcement Phase in a message box that had to be dismissed, which
is a good thing since it takes a while to read all the material. At
some point, it might be worth while to see if the text could be
formatted a bit better, but it is perfectly clear.

The fourth appeared briefly at the start of the Rail Movement Phase; I
had to restart the game several times to get it all. The Rail Movement
Phase is then skipped. It might not be a bad idea to move this to the
prior box.

The Axis Player, incidentally, is not informed of this. I guess he's
just supposed to know.

With Respect to Eastern Hostilities:

The Political Screen and other mechanisms for doing a DOW on the
Baltic States or Russia all claim that this cannot be done until 1940.
However, once the USSR has Annexed the Baltic States, the Axis Player
can in fact DOW the Soviet Union. In the test game, this happened
11/1/39, well before the start of 1940.

The Western Allied Player is presented with a message box at the start
of the next Reinforcement Phase advising of this effect:

German units pay only 1 MP to enter/exit Soviet ZOCs.

Neither the Axis Player nor the Soviet Player is advised of this. I
might suggest that it is the Soviet Player, not the Western Allied
Player, that needs this information.

Both can happen in the same game. So the "Axis Blitz Bonus" is being
used to implement special rules from each of the 1940 France and 1941
Barbarossa scenarios. My scenario will, therefore, leave this rule
activated.
--
Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, "I never knew him."