Battle of the Scheldt AAR Dav Vandenbroucke [email protected] February 14, 2017 This is an after-action report of a solitaire play-through of Battle of the Scheldt, a Folio Series game published by Decision Games in 2013. I provide a brief discussion of the historical situation, a summary of the game features, a turn-by-turn account of the play-through, with pictures, and a final evaluation. This document is intended as part of a survey of games about this battle, including MDG’s The Scheldt Campaign (http://grognard.com/replayaar/scheldt- campaign-aar.pdf) and 3W’s Tide of Fortune (forthcoming—I hope!), followed by a comparison article (forthcoming). The historical battle was fought in October and November 1944. Its purpose was to clear the Scheldt Estuary, in the Netherlands, of German shore batteries and minefields so that the port of Antwerp, Belgium could be used to supply the Allied forces in northwest Europe. Antwerp had been captured in September. However, Field Marshal Montgomery was preoccupied with Operation Market Garden, which, if successful, might end the war quickly. After that operation failed to achieve its objectives, it became apparent that the Allies would need to keep their ever- expanding forces in supply into 1945. General Eisenhower directed Montgomery to clear the Page 1 of 40 Scheldt. The job fell to the Canadian 1st Army, which included British and Polish troops as well as Canadian. Later in the battle, an American division would also participate. The battle was fought in rainy weather and terrible terrain, as both sides deliberately flooded parts of the area to impede the movements of the other. While some of the opposing German forces consisted of static and reserve units, paratroopers, assault guns, and regular infantry also participated. The folio series of games is aimed at the audience for simple, playable games. While history and realism are not ignored, they take a back seat to gameplay. They feature a small map, a small number of counters, and brief rules. Most folio games are based on a game system, with a 4- page standard rulebook and another 4-page set of exclusive rules. These games are viewed as the descendants of the SPI quad games, and, indeed, many of the games in the series are explicit remakes of SPI’s offerings. Battle of the Scheldt uses the Fire and Movement standard rules, which are intended for operational games set in World War II and later. However, SPI never published a game on this battle. Most wargamers will feel right at home with the Fire & Movement standard rules, and the Battle of the Scheldt exclusive rules yield few surprises. Here is a brief summary, divided into familiar elements, minor variations, and chrome: Familiar Elements Sequence of play: Game turns divided into two player turns, with movement and then combat. Counters: NATO symbols with attack-defense-move ratings. All are two-step, double sided units, representing regiments, brigades, or divisions. They have historical designations that do not affect play. Stacking: There isn’t any. Movement: Pretty much what you’d expect. Zones of control: Stop movement but don’t force combat. Block retreats. Combat: Differential CRT. Terrain is integrated into the CRT as different column headers (essentially, defensible terrain gives column shifts to the left). Results are retreats, elimination, exchange. Supply rules: There aren’t any. Command control rules: There aren’t any. Reinforcements: Both sides have some, arriving on a fixed schedule. The Allies also have some that arrive after they’ve taken certain geographic objectives. Replacements: Both sides have a limited ability to flip depleted units back to full strength. Eliminated units are gone. Page 2 of 40 Minor Variations Mobile phases: Some units (in this game, all are armor brigades) have a red “M” for mobile. If they sit out the regular movement and combat phases, they get their own phases after the regular ones. Infiltration: All units have an ability to move from one ZoC hex to another. It costs mobile units half their movement allowance; other units pay all. Support units: Instead of artillery and air units, each side gets an allocation of support units at the beginning of the game turn, by random draw. The number of units each side may draw is indicated on the turn record track. Support units have icons of weapons systems (which are just decoration) and values ranging from +2 to +8. Players may apply up to two of them to aid in combat on attack or defense. They apply just like ground combat units. The phasing player may also use up to two units to bombard an enemy unit within three hexes of one of his own, and the non-phasing player may use his for “counter-battery fire.” Bombardment is resolved on the same CRT as ground attacks.1 Combat results: Units that can’t retreat take a step loss. Retreating units may displace friendly units while retreating. Attacking units may advance along the path of retreat. Chrome Flooded hexes: Mobile units can’t enter flooded hexes, but they can attack into them. Other units use their full movement allowance to enter. Engineer units nullify the terrain advantage. Breskens Pocket: The area in the southwest corner of the map is the Breskens Pocket. Units on both sides there are frozen in place for the first three turns. On turn 4, Allied units can cross all-sea hexes (representing the use of amphibious vehicles). Special support units: The Germans have a +5 support unit representing antitank fire. They may use it once per turn when attacked by Allied armor, in addition to the two support units that may normally be applied. The Allies have two +10 support units representing naval gunfire. Each may be used only once per game, to support an attack or bombard within three hexes of a sea hex. Use of naval gunfire counts against the two- unit limit. Amphibious assaults: The conditional Allied reinforcements arrive by amphibious assault. They may land in unoccupied hexes or assault enemy-occupied hexes.2 The game is 20 turns long. The Allies win the game if they eliminate all of the German units west of the victory line, which runs near the east side of the map. Basically, it means keeping the Germans away from the Scheldt and Antwerp. Note that the appendix contains reference map images free of counters. 1 The rules state that the players may examine their support units after drawing them and then apply them as they see fit. In order to add some extra uncertainty in my solitaire play-through, I randomly chose the units at the time of use. 2 There are assault boat counters to mark assault hexes. These seem superfluous, as the landings are obvious, and there is no lasting significance to the “beachhead” locations. Page 3 of 40 Initial Setup. Note that the counters are fitted with magnetic clips for vertical play. Keep in mind that the map is oriented with east to the top and north to the left. Turn 1, October 2-3 Support Units: 11 Allied, 6 German. Allied Movement Phase The three brigades of 15th Division move into position to attack 712th Division at Brasschaet, supported by 5/2 Infantry. The rest of 2nd Division maneuvers to attack 346th Division in Kapellen next turn. 5/1 Polish Infantry stays in reserve, while the two armoured brigades do not move, hoping to have an opportunity in the mobile phase. Allied Bombardment Because the Allies have support to burn right now, they bombard both German divisions with two support units each. The Germans do not respond with counterbattery fire. The bombardment of 712th Division draws +2, +8, yielding a +3 combat differential and an Ex result. The division is depleted. The bombardment of 346th Division draws +6, +7, yielding a +6 combat differential an another Ex, again depleting the unit. Page 4 of 40 Turn 1 Allied combat phase. Allied Combat Phase In the combat phase, both sides supply the maximum support. The Allies attack with 4x5 from ground units, plus +6 and +8 support. The Germans have 4 plus +4 and +3. The differential is +23 in a city, resolved in the +10 column, with a result of D2. Unable to retreat, 712th Division is eliminated. 45/15 Infantry occupies Brasschaet. Allied Mobile Movement Phase In the mobile movement phase, 4/4 and 10/1 Polish Armour race through Brasschaet to surround Kapellen. Allied Mobile Combat Phase The armoured brigades attack 346th Division, with full support. The Germans also have full support, plus their A/T support unit. The Allies have 2x6, +6, +3. The Germans have 4, +3, +3, +5. The differential is +6, with result of Ex. The depleted 346th is eliminated, and the Allies flip 4/4 Armour. 10/1 Polish Armour occupies Kapellen. Page 5 of 40 Allied Replacement Phase The Allies flip 4/4 Armour Brigade back to its full-strength side. German Reinforcement Phase The Germans receive 711th Division at 2717. German Movement Phase 245th Division moves from Esschen to Woensdrecht. 711th Division skirts around the Allied forces and moves to 2021, blocking the road to Woensdrecht. The German units are further than 3 hexes from the Allied units, and so the Germans cannot bombard. The remaining phases in the German turn are skipped. Turn 1 German movement phase. Turn 2, October 3-4 Support Units: 11 Allied, 6 German Allied Movement Phase: 2nd Division moves into position to attack 711th Division. Two brigades of 15 Division skirt the Germans to the east in order to outflank Woensdrecht.