alpenfestung 2020 szenario briefing

March 24th 2020

Alpenfestung 2020 Szenario Briefing Not really for printing, lots of images, uses a ton of toner - this is a digital document, best read on a device of your choice. Scenario playing times were determined by the revised ASL Scenario Size Calculator, which can be found online here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TKzZtzT3TKH-ubVxSz84bvng3oeU71ls3IIVcUyD-c8/edit#gid=0

Gaming materials required Mapboards 7a, 19, 20, 22, 36, 40, 41, 42, 43, 54, 63, 64, 67 Deluxe b, c, d

Overlays St1, O1

Nationalities American, French, German, British, Japanese

Alpenfestung Scenario Briefing - Version 20200324 -

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TKzZtzT3TKH-ubVxSz84bvng3oeU71ls3IIVcUyD-c8/edit#gid=0

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Gaming materials required 1 Mapboards 1 Overlays 1 Nationalities 1

First Round - June 1940: Case Yellow 4 Le Hérisson (A77) 4

Historical Background 4 Battlefield and Tactical Notes 4

German perspective 5 French perspective 5

In Front of the Storm (A231) 8 Historical Background 8 Battlefield and Tactical Notes 8

Labarthe's Charade (SP149) 10 Historical Background 10 Battlefield and Tactical Notes 10

Axis perspective 10 Allied perspective 10

Round Two: Late War 12 I Don't Like Retreating (WO4) 12


Bedburg Bite (J157) 14 Historical Background 14 Battlefield and Tactical Notes 14

It don’t come easy (J158) 16 Historical Background 16 Battlefield and Tactical Notes 16

Third Round: Into the Jungle 18 Non-Stop Gurkhas (SP249) 18


Blooded (RPT79) 20 Historical Background 20 Battlefield and Tactical Notes 20

Mile Peg 61 (RPT83) 22 Historical Background 22


Battlefield and Tactical Notes 22


First Round - June 1940: Case Yellow We’ll play a medium length scenario as an opener to the tourney. About 6-8 hours. The Germans have invaded France.

Le Hérisson (A77) Hangest, France 1940-06-05 Published in Croix de Guerre, Avalon Hill Game Company, and Croix de Guerre (Second Edition), MMP French (D) vs. German (A)

Historical Background Rommel’s 7th Panzer Division had established a small bridgehead across the Somme, but the construction of a pontoon bridge was prevented by interdicting fire from the nearby town of Hangest. Self-propelled howitzers were brought forward to bombard the defenders, and an assault by motorcycle infantry was launched. The attackers slowly fought their way into Hangest, but the colonial infantry resisted fiercely even in the face of point-blank fire from the self-propelled guns.

Battlefield and Tactical Notes


German perspective This is a German assault on a fortified French position. Key elements for the German is to remember that there eight turns to take eleven buildings. So a slow but steady assault is in order. The defender has only marginal AT capabilities, so the open-topped SPs should be used offensively but carefully, less the French do take them out with a machine gun or even in CC. The sIGs pack a lot of punch, but ammunition is limited (breakdown number is 9). You should consider carefully which shots to take. One of the best uses is certainly to make good of the SMOKE as all three AFVs have a Smoke depletion number of 9.

#78. sIG IB: The sIG I was the German Army's first attempt at SP artillery, combining the PzKpfw IB chassis with the sIG 33 Infantry Gun. Its nickname was the Grandfather (Stammvater). 38 were converted and issued (six per company) to sIG (Sf) Kompanien (SP Heavy Infantry Gun Companies) 701-706, which were allotted respectively to the 9th, 1st, 2nd, 5th, 7th and 10th Pz. Divisions prior the invasion of France.

French perspective Watch out: the huns are coming. You should use your given strengths in this scenario to maximum effect, and that is the defensive terrain. Do try to hold the stone buildings as long as possible, but play a staged defense by withdrawing in time. Mark key positions to defend and then have a plan to fall back to them. Don’t ever let the German get too close. And do try to get in those shots in open ground, which the German will have to cross. An important consideration is where to put your HIP elements. Naturally a hidden machine gun emplacement is a nasty surprise for any German defense. But in the end, not having the German SPs being able to target your best stack at the very beginning is an advantage. As always, when playing a fall-back defense, watch the death traps. Do not let the Germans encircle you, or catch your units in Open Ground. Also, the Germans will use SMOKE, so maybe there’s a way to use that SMOKE to cover your retreat. Close Combat can be a way to overcome both German infantry as well as the sIGs, which are easy prey in a CC situation. They don’t have machine guns and are open topped, that’s some juicy drms to take advantage


of. But this is something for the end game. Use the terrain to regain concealment and strike from the unknown! Here’s an example setup from the ASL Annual 96:


In Front of the Storm (A231) Aessan, France 1940-05-10 Croix de Guerre (Second Edition) French (A) vs. German (D)

Historical Background

The blitzkrieg in the West had begun. German forces were pouring into France at breakneck speeds. Bridges on the Moselle had been captured undamaged and the advance elements of the 34th Infantry Division started to cross as soon as the obstacles installed on the bridges had been removed. One such bridge lay on the outskirts of the French town of Aessan. The job of holding this key objective was given to specially trained and equipped glider troops. As they arrived, they were joined by Vorausabteilung A which had brought up a 37mm anti-tank gun. At midday the 4th Spahis Regiment, supported by Hotchkiss H-35 tanks, counterattacked the bridge at Aessan.


You’re playing a French Assault on a bridge defended by German Elite infantry.


Labarthe's Charade (SP149) Chémery, France 1940-05-14 Published in Schwerpunkt 13 French (D) vs. German (A)


The French 55th Infantry Division’s counterattack against the German Meuse River breakout was not going well. The 213th Infantry Regiment had been ordered north toward Chehéry, but the Germans thwarted all of their efforts and were now conducting a counterattack of their own. Lt. Col. Pierre Labarthe, commander of the 213th Infantry, retained the 7th Company as regimental reserve at Chémery. A loud cannonade and the sight of German tanks approaching from the north convinced Labarthe it was time to commit the 7th Company. Lacking any anti-tank weapons whatsoever, the 7th Company watched as German tanks emerged from the northern approach to Chémery.


Axis perspective You’ll play a combined arms attack vs a prepared French position. Your key tactic is the armored assault for advancing against the open ground. Also remember that your two PzIV carry SMOKE with a depletion number of 9. However, time is of the essence: Only five and a half turns to victory and the key position half a board away (41X9).

Allied perspective No bore sighting, that’s bad! But you have two machine guns so better measure out those firelanes carefully. And those tanks. Maybe a lucky shot!


Round Two: Late War Four years later, the tides have turned with the Axis on the retreat. Within four years, the machinery of the war has changed dramatically. We’ll play a rather long scenario, about 8 hours.

I Don't Like Retreating (WO4) Nuenen, The Netherlands 1944-09-20 American and British (D) vs. Germans (A) Winter Offensive Bonus Pack 2011


Having liberated Eindhoven the previous day, the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment moved out to the east toward Helmond. Easy Company led the reconnaissance, riding on Cromwells of the King's Royal Hussars. Three miles east of Eindhoven, after passing through the small town of Nuenen, someone yelled "Kraut tanks!" A massed armored assault by Panzer-Brigade 107 had run directly into the Allied team. As the panzers deployed with infantry behind them, the men of Easy Company took cover in the irrigation ditches crisscrossing the nearby fields while the Cromwells moved into combat.


Both players are pushing to control more stone buildings between them. A tense fight involving German late war armor, notably Panther G and Jagdpanzer IV. The allied tanks are easy pickings for those Guns, so it’ll be tough to deploy them to effect.


Bedburg Bite (J157) Louisendorf, Germany 1945-02-16 ASL Journal #10 German (D) vs. British (A)


To kick of the attack known as Operation VERITABLE, the Royal Winnipeg Rifles, supported by the 3rd Armoured Battalion of the Scots Guards, was ordered to take the hilly ground around Louisendorf, south of Moyland. This would protect the right flank of the main attack by the Regina Rifle Regiment, which was to force its way north and east, towards the Rhine, and sever the Goch-Kolcar road, thus splitting Panzer-Division 116 into two parts that would no longer be able to support one another. The Winnipeg Rifles, supported by Churchills, left their assembly area near Bedburg in Kangaroo carriers and headed across the dreary fields towards Louisendorf.


A late war combined arms attack in Germany. The British player get a Badger with Flamethrower to light up the town. Not that this is also the best weapon against the JagdPanzer V that is stalking him. Minute tactical close quarter village fighting. Requires a well prepared defense and a careful reading of the VC.


It don’t come easy (J158) Noville, Belgium 1945-01-15 Published in ASL Journal #10 American (D) vs. German (A)


By the middle of January, “Easy” was on the attack again. Although many replacements had come into the ranks, some of whom were not even paratroop-qualified, Major Dick Winters entrusted them with one more assault to retake ground east of Bastogne lost a month earlier. The “Screamin’ Eagles” griped and moaned in the freezing Belgian countryside, but Easy Company’s vets followed Winters’ orders – and the replacements followed the vets. Upon entering the smoking ruins of Noville, there was an immediate counterattack by Panzer-Division 9. Winters led the remains of the 2nd Battalion to secure the town, which was infested with German snipers. The resulting losses left him with only 20 or so men who had dropped along with him on D-Day.


A Deluxe offering on a really big map which is small in hexes. A German close quarter combined arms assault against a prepared American position. Only one machine Gun for the American player, that’s not a lot of firelanes. But a lot of rather large buildings with many places to hide in. Players will appreciate the large size of hexes when placing units on multiple buildings levels.


Third Round: Into the Jungle The last round will be a quickie, but loaded with action. If you ever wanted to gun it out in rice paddies, here’s your chance.

Non-Stop Gurkhas (SP249) Schwerpunkt 21


The Japanese hoped to bypass the Allied army on the border of Manipur State and Burma, and cut off them from their supply lines for defeat in detail. The Allies planned to allow themselves to be surrounded, but to supply their forces by air and watch the Japanese wither at the end of a tenuous supply. However, this plan depended on the Indian divisions at the border disengaging from the Japanese and retreating to Imphal for the real defense. Despite knowledge of the Japanese plans, the Allies began the withdrawal too late. The 20th Indian Division was at the end of the line. The Japanese used the same tactics that had stood them so well in 1942 – infiltration causing panic. The 20th garrisoned Tamu and the villages at the border. At one such village, the defenders, in the process of planning a retreat, heard the rumble of engines. Tanks! The Japanese 14th Tank Regiment had been asked to push the defenders out, to the block the Japanese were sure to have established on the road behind. However, the Japanese found Witok defended by the best battalion of the 10th Gurkha Rifles. Armed with automatic weapons and fresh from jungle school, the Gurkhas placed so mush fire on the attackers that the Japanese broke off the attack. This was the first action for the 4/10 Gurhkas in the six month long struggle for Imphal, during which they earned the nickname “the non-stop Gurkhas”.


The Japanese attacker faces elite Gurkhas just graduated from training in an entrenched position. The Japanese attack with a pair of wonky tanks. Also here’s your chance to play rice paddies as all grain on the map is considered rice paddies. You can finally get those bright green Banks counters from Rising Sun into action! Rice paddies add a nice twist to the ASL game, so this could be fun.


Blooded (RPT79) Rally Point 8


On the 14th of September, the 3rd Battalion of the 503rd PIR was waiting to emplane after capturing the airfield at Nadzeb ten days earlier. But orders came in to grab their gear and they marched east. The Japanese were escaping down an uncovered trail, fleeing from the 7th Australian Infantry Division. The only unit available to stop them was the 3rd Battalion, 503rd PIR. On the morning of the 15th, the 3rd Battalion sent out patrols. At around 1600 hours, Lt. Lyle Murphy's I Company ran into a large party of Japanese attempting to escape. What started out as a platoon action, soon developed into a bigger fight.


Jungle fight with the Japanese escaping from elite US Paratroopers.


Mile Peg 61 (RPT83)


The Japanese 5th Division was continuing its attack. Only six hours after the bloody ambush at the Gemensah Bridge, the Japanese 11th Infantry Regiment, along with the survivors of the Mukaide Force, crossed the repaired bridge and advanced toward the main battle positions of Lt. Col. Galleghan's Australian 2/30th (New South Waled) A.I.F. Battalion at mile peg 61 on the Gemas-Tampin Road. The 2/30th Battalion occupied positions astride the road and covered the approach with two 2-pounder anti-tank guns. At 1000 hours, Japanese infantry struck the Australian line with armor support.



alpenfestung 2020 szenario briefing

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