blitzarras

Game facts.

Solitaire - The game is fully playable solitaire. The random events table is an obvious friend of the solitaire gamer. The allied sequence of play means that the degree of effective allied air support / artillery bombardment is not known until after the allies have moved (as opposed to the Germans who make airstrikes and then move in the knowledge of which enemy units have been disrupted), which again helps solitaire play.

Game time - The game can be played in 4 or more hours. The compact size of the game means that it is very easy to keep it set up if playing over more than one session.

Game size - one A3 map (11" x 17"), 187 counters and markers, 4 sides of play aids and an 8 page rulebook. There is 1 scenario, the two day battle and less than half the available units begin the game on the map. There is stacking in the game, the hexes are large, as are the counters. I found that the counters sit quite tightly in the hex, so I enlarged the map at my local photocopy shop and it looks superb. The hexes become jumbo sized, easily handling the counters and associated stacking.
Complexity - low / medium. The sequence of play has plenty of notes, making it easy to run through a few turns to get a handle on the system. Once three or four turns are played, everything falls into place.

Northern France, May 1940: Close to the town of Arras, near the Belgian border, allied forces prepare to counter-attack the lead elements of Rommels rapidly advancing 7th Panzer Division. Can the allies get the breathing space that they so desperately need, by halting the German spearhead or will Rommel brush them aside and continue his drive to the French coast ?

This is a two day battle that is re-created at a scale of one and a half hours per turn and one mile to the hex and includes both British and French forces.

The Battle of Arras is part of a series of 'Blitzkrieg' games designed by Paul Rohrbaugh and published by Schutze Games.

Comment

The system manages to put quite a bit of chrome into the game without adding much in the way of rules. One difference between the armies is nicely shown by simply giving the German and Allied forces slightly different sequences of play. The Germans can make air attacks and use artillery bombardment before movement, while the allies do it the other way around. This means that the Germans can move with the full knowledge of which enemy units have just been disrupted by those attacks. Disrupted units have combat penalties and

lose their zone of control, so the Germans have a greater fluidity of movement and a better chance of setting up successful attacks, reflecting their superior command and control systems at this time. The British get a column shift on the combat table for each attacking heavy tank unit (Matildas), while the German 88's negate those column shifts in defence. The direct influence of Rommel also gives a column shift for the Germans and his presence is almost certain to be at the most critical part of the battlefield.

The disruption system itself is a clean and simple way to represent a number of battlefield effects and rightly, it stops units always being able to perform on every turn in the game. There is a good tactical feel and throughout play, I found certain situations reminded me of things that I had read in battle accounts of the period, such as spoiling attacks being made against an enemy (ie disrupting them) and getting units into attack positions or start lines. Disruptions also undermine a players total control of the army as disrupted units can only move 1 hex. This often prevents local forces from fully reacting to an enemy move as disrupted units get locked into a position, which in turn helps solitaire play.

Arras has an interesting way of presenting the Order of Battle. Players dice to calculate how many units for the initial setup can be drawn from a cup and the remainder become reinforcements that are in turn released if the player rolls less than the current turn number. In addition, both armies have conditional reserves that can be released but at a cost in Victory Points. Not only does this provide some variety, it also adds some real

decision making to the game as there are tensions between having enough forces on the board and achieving the accumulation of victory points to win. A deteriorating situation can really put the pressure on for both players. It's nice to have a series of playable games that collectively give a wider study of this interesting campaign at the level of divisional commander.