1940 French stand at Arras


Set up: quick
Game time: quick
Solo play: very suitable

Historical Background:
During the fall of the Dunkirk pocket, several French and British units launched desperate attacks to slow the German advance, allowing the B.E.F. to evacuate by sea. On 20 May, near Arras, the French 3rd DLM (Light Motorized Division) regrouped under the British command of General Franklyn and following heavy losses against the 10th Panzer. Promised reinforcements, General Franklyn chose to establish defensive positions around Arras. Rommel’s 7th Panzer Division rolled toward them; would the reinforcements arrive in time to save the beleaguered French forces?
Briefing:
Axis 6, move first. Allies 5 cards.
Conditions of Victory:
6 Medals.
Exit rules are in effect for the Axis across the entire Allied baseline. Only full-strength units can yield a medal that way; damaged units can still exit, but for no medal gain.
Special Rules:
British Commonwealth Forces Command (Nations 5)
French Army Command (Nations 7).
All Allied units starting on the map are French. Reinforcements are British.
At the start of each turn during which the Allies are tied for or has less medals than his Axis opponent, the French player rolls 1 die; this determines which British unit arrives to reinforce the French (Infantry, Armour, Star=Artillery). Place it on any vacant French baseline hex; it may be ordered normally during that turn.
Blitz Rules (Actions 15)
Allied armour may only move 1-2 hexes and battle.
French armour units are elite units of 4 figures (Troops 2).
Air Power card: Axis roll 2 dice, Allies 1 die.
Air Rules are NOT in effect – the Air Sortie cards are set aside.
Scenario link

Report:
Set up time 9 minutes, playing time 40 minutes.
I thought a quick and easy game would be a good start to the weekend, and it certainly was! Really easy to set up – no roads, railways, rivers, minefield, etc. And just a straightforward assault by the Axis with no complicated rules – Blitz rules is easy enough to use.
The Germans got off flying start, with their first move being Assault all units in the centre, which meant five armour, one artillery, and two infantry units attacked together. They had great success but no medals, which meant the French could immediately throw for reinforcements. This is a good rule which led to four new units – the problem is trying not to forget to do it! A couple of times I realised I had forgotten, so gave a extra die to throw.
It really looked like it would be all over within 20 minutes, but the French held on. They suffered big losses but managed to keep at least one figure in each unit, so kept up with the Germans in terms of medals.
Then the tide turned and the French went into a 5-3 lead and, with the help of a very devastating Firefight, destroyed all the German tank units! This was partly helped by the Barrage card, but then the Germans played Counterattack to use the same card to great effect. The Germans were struggling, but (perhaps like in reality) Air Power came to their rescue – in this scenario the Axis throw two dice per hex, which led to them taking the winning two units.
So, a great little scenario, which could probably be even quicker than 40 minutes with the right cards and dice throws.
Set up:

End:

Burning tanks scattered acoss the battlefield!

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We don’t deserve you pragueimp, you’re a true servant of the game. Thanks for the interesting gameplay reviews. I love the format.

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Thanks! I really enjoy composing After Action Reviews - a chance to look back on what happened and have a bit of a think about where I am going with playing the game, painting models, etc.