The Blitzkrieg Legend, was on a table. There were few if any counters. Rather a series of red and white crosses looking suspiciously like tile spacers were scattered around the map. Some sat on towns, others on major cities. Something of a pattern emerged from their seemingly random placement.  Each tile was trying to tell a story of a place it covered.

The tiles showed the locations of men, tanks, supply, HQ’s from a wide variety of armed forces from the days of WWII. How intriguing that it would be the same landmark names of towns that history reveres and shirks from at the same time. Towns and cities such as Arras, Verdun, Sedan….scenes of death and destruction on a scale that surely could never be repeated.

Yet men, and weapons were present at each location. War of the worst kind was about to break out.

Luckily these are just markers. No recreation of history is going to happen here. This is just an exploration of the situation. A familiarisation with the details of  the battle, mostly unknown in detail to me. On a brand spanking new copy of the OCS title from The Gamers….MMP

History shows where these brave souls from all theButch, Belgian, French and BEF forces were at the precise moment the conflict erupted into a violent fast paced series of battles that would consume men and machine once more. Whereas the red X’s on the coast and in Paris show the objectives to acquire or protect for the forces involved. Who were these brave souls?

Once the Germans began the advance, where would they strike, how would they persecute the fight? The Germans must keep a channel open to Germany for Supply. The French must fight to protect Paris. The Belgians and Dutch will have to have help from the British Expeditionary Force to last if history is not to repeat it self. Assuming that  the game were to be actually played.

The myriad towns and roads and rail lines make this a the actions of resupply, reinforcement and combat a complex to do efficiently. The thin orange circles are the immediate areas that need to be controlled by the Germans.

Then Phase 2 would likely be the slightly thicker lines. Then if you were to actually play the game the German player would then need to conquer the Green 3rd phase towns to keep supply flowing.

However, is there a single hex where an enterprising member of the Wermacht could place a Truck Extender ( an ad-hoc supply range extender which is a combination of 5 trucks fixed in place with a 20 hex range) and be with in range of Paris AND the coastal areas assuming a 10-0 HQ was available to each area?  Hmmmm.

The rules are specific about using rail in the country of France for T&T (Transport and for Trace*), i.e. there is no allowed usage. The Central Planning Committee will have a field day with that. OKW is going to be busy!

*Trace, general supply for all forces.

The image below shares the intricate road web, and unique Polder in Holland which creates difficult attack and defense logistics. Note the somewhat massive amounts of German Supply compared to other East Front titles.

Such day dreaming! The turn 1 ranges unopposed are staggering, the supply issue daunting, the task for both sides formidable.

What would the French need to do then?