Playing Blitzkrieg Stalled: Arras

The following notes highlight how the sequence of play runs in this game. ALLIED PLAYER TURN. Supply: Check supply, units out of supply automatically disrupt. If reinforcements are waiting to come onto the map, roll a die for each unit, if the score is less than the current turn number then it will enter in the movement phase. Movement: Units stop when entering an enemy ZOC and they pay +1 MP to leave a ZOC. Infantry and artillery have a movement allowance of 2 but this increases to 4 MPs if they stack with transports. The heavy allied tanks are slow (2 MPs), most other tanks have 3 or 4 MPs.

Air / Artillery bombardment: The British and French forces get one air unit each. The air unit is placed onto a target hex. The German player now has a chance to intercept with German air units. Results can be that either sides air unit is shot down (returns 2 turns later) or the Allied stike is aborted or the Allied strike continues. If the strike continues, each target unit is rolled for and the result will either be a disruption to the target unit, the air unit is shot down (returns 2 turns later) or no effect and the allied air unit returns to base but can be used later to intercept German air strikes. Allied artillery can also use ranged bombardment in this phase. The British units have a range of 5 hexes and the French can fire out to 3 hexes. Again, results are either disruption or no effect. It is harder to disrupt targets that are in the woods or towns and also armour is harder to disrupt. Combat: Combat is mandatory against adjacent un-disrupted enemy units. One of the advantages of disrupting the enemy is that disrupted units lose their ZOCs. An example of a typical combat could involve 2 French tanks (with attack value 3 and defence value 3) attacking a disrupted German infantry unit (with attack value 2 and  defence  3). The odds would be 2:1 and then up one column (3:1) for the defender being disrupted (if the Germans had an 88mm anti-tank gun unit, they would push the odds down 1 column).  Once the odds are determined, the defender decides whether to declare a 'no retreat' order. Once done, the die is rolled on the Combat Result Table.  Each player can suffer an adverse result as follows; No Effect - Disrupt - unit is marked, attack value is halved, movement reduced to 1 hex, combat penalty. Retreat - unit retreat 1 or 2 hexes (choice) and disrupts. 'no retreat' units simply disrupt in place. Retreat** - retreat 2 or 3 hexes (choice) and disrupt. 'no retreat' units are eliminated instead. Elimination - the units are removed from play (there is a chance of return on the refit turn). In our example, 3:1 odds would give us a  range of effects from disruption to elimination but only the defender would be effected. Attackers never suffer an adverse effect in an attack if using odds of 2:1 or higher. Mechanised exploitation: Friendly mechanised / armour units can move upto half their printed movement allowance but cannot enter an enemy ZOC. Recovery: Any allied units that can trace a line of supply can remove their disruption markers. Also once per game (on the night turn), there is a refit routine during this phase, when all units eliminated the previous day can attempt to refit for battle. A die is rolled and on a 1 - 3 they can return as a reinforcement but they are marked as being -1 to both their combat factors. Units such as 88mm anti tank guns, transports, artillery and units with any combat value of 1, cannot refit.

GERMAN PLAYER TURN: This is conducted as above except that the German air / artillery bombardment phase comes BEFORE their movement phase. The Germans have an option to use some of their air units (they have 4) to interdict the road net and reduce allied movement and hinder their reinforcements. END SEGMENT: Random Events: Two dice are rolled and will provide one of the following random events; No Event German Command Paralysis Allied Command Paralysis Rommel Arrives Maximum Allied Air Effort Refugees Clog the Road Victory Determination: In this particular game, victory is likely to be calculated at the end of the game, when the victory points are counted up. However, there is a slim chance of a sudden death victory if all enemy units are currently disrupted.