BY GÍSLI JÖKULL GÍSLASON WITH DANE TKACS, EIRIK ULSUND AND MAURICE V. HOLMES JR. I Contents Operation Weserübung 4 Campaign Outcome 24 Firestorm: Norway 6 Warriors 25 Using the Maps 7 Turns 29 The Strategic Game 10 Firestorm Troops 34 The Game Turn 13 Firestorm Terms 38 How Firestorm Works 18 The General’s Wargame 39 General - Planning Phase 18 Setting up the Campaign 40 Commander - Battle Phase 19 Firestorm: Norway Maps 42 Strategic Phase 23 Introduction Why Norway? At first glance it may sound obscure, but it studied the Campaign so it was a lot of work. Actually isn’t. It was the first battlefield where British, French and Firestorm Norway could be called Firestorm Weserübung German soldiers would battle on land in World War II. since it does cover Denmark in an abstract way. I went for It would last longer than the Battle of France. It was the Firestorm Norway for reasons of familiarity with most people. first modern combined arms operation with navy, air and In all my Firestorms I have tried to capture the essence of land forces. One which the Wehrmacht performed to their each Campaign and soon I realised that it was impossible German perfection. It was a gross violation of neutral to separate the Naval Actions from the land Campaign and states and Operation Weserübung would conclude in the this added a whole new dimension. Another thing about the occupation of Norway and Denmark for the reminder of Battle of Norway is that Norway is very long and making the war in Europe. Most would hate the invaders, while a map that covered the entire country made it very hard to thousands of their countrymen joined the ranks of the SS focus on the areas of main fighting. So I decided to break up Wiking and SS Nordland to fight the Soviet Union and the the Campaign to three maps. They are the Strategic Map for Norwegian collaborator Vidkun Quisling would give his Naval and Air actions, South Central Norway from Oslo to name to traitors and collaborators. The Royal Navy learned Trondheim and then finally the Narvik Map. Think of it in the hard way that the age of great battleships was at an terms of the Flames of War sliding scale, the closer you focus end. Naval warfare would be determined by air superiority. on the action the smaller the scale becomes. In that way This was also be the only time, the few but effective surface Firestorm Norway is different from previous Firestorms. ships of the Kriegsmarine, would do battle as a navy on The idea of a Firestorm is to put your Flames of War games the high seas. The Battle of Norway would also have far into a larger context. So I went ahead and tried my hand at reaching consequences. It would lead to Churchill becoming designing a simple yet effective Naval/Air game. This turned the Prime Minister of Great Britain and for the Germans, out to be a lot of work. Initially I had tables but the Holy their brilliant campaign would lead to a heavy burden on Grail of game design is KISS, Keep It Simple Stupid. It was resources and manpower, one they could ill afford as the war quite clear by reading the books and articles that I could find went on. that battle at sea could be very deadly but in a number of I really like Firestorms. After designing Firestorms for Greece, engagements very little damage occurred. Battleships were Lorraine and Caen I was approached separately by both Eirik particularly resilient to damage which is not surprising as Ulsund and Dane Tkacs to see if I was interested in doing they are over 30.000 tonnes. I also discovered that a lot of one for Norway. Being Icelandic I was interested in looking ships were seriously damaged rather than destroyed. High closely at the Battle for Norway, as we share a kindred spirit level bombing was very inaccurate but Stukas performed very among the Nordic countries. I had however never really well. German submarines were numerous but as with the US II The wreck of the Heavy Cruiser Blücher destroyed by Oscarsborg Fortress as it attempted to land German troops in Oslo at the start of Operation Weserübung. submarines, at the start of World War 2 their torpedoes were secure in Norway the Royal Navy learned the hard way that defective. So rather than to have complex tables and even Air Superiority would dominate World War II naval warfare. more complex damage rules you simply get a Combat Value It was the persistence of Eirik Ulsund and Dane Tkacs that for each unit that translates into number of dice and as in a made me go for such a difficult campaign to design. For Flames of War game you must decide before you roll what is me the experience was a rewarding one. I feel I now have a your intended target. Also just as in a Flames of War game good understanding of Operation Weserübung and I hope being destroyed doesn’t always mean that everyone is killed, that players will appreciate the workings of this exciting and only a unit is rendered combat ineffective. After a series of important part of World War II. playtest I found that this system is brilliantly simple and Maurice V. Holmes Jr. deserves a mention in the dispatches. works well to my satisfaction. It also opens the possibility He made a very thorough read through the rules and of being used for future campaigns, especially the Pacific suggested changes that I believe made the end version whenever Battlefront comes to that theatre. I hope you like much better. Also my thanks to Robin Häggblom for his it as well. contribution to Sekondløytnant Thor Olaf Hannevig and Designing Firestorm Norway was hard. As a Campaign the others that offered comments and suggestions on Flames it is rather one sided. The Germans managed to start the of War on Facebook and the Forums. Campaign with a Strategic surprise and once they were - Jökull 1 DO I NEED FIRESTORM–BAGRATION OR Aircraft: In Firestorm Norway Aircraft are deployed on the MARKET GARDEN TO PLAY? main map as air units, but both players can decide to use them for support in their Flames of War battles. In that case Nope. Firestorm: Norway is self-contained. All the rules you they are removed from the main map and relocated to either will need are included to play, so it is not necessary to own the map of South-Central Norway or Narvik. This must be Firestorm: Bagration/Market Garden. Downloadable tokens done at the start of each turn. are provided although you can easily substitute them with other models. Attacker: In Firestorm-Norway, the player with the initiative automatically becomes the attacker in the Flames FOR THOSE WHO ARE FAMILIAR WITH of War game; this supersedes any other special rules, both in FIRESTORM, WHAT IS diffERENT? missions and army lists. That means that it is possible that an Infantry Company might attack an Armoured Company for Players familiar with Firestorms and especially Firestorm example in Hasty Attack. Caen and other more recent Firestorms will find many things familiar in FS. Norway, but the big difference is Attacks: In this version of Firestorm only the attacking the addition of a Strategic Game covering Naval and Air player can capture an area. If the defender wins, he has done combat. Also there are three maps. The Strategic map, just that, successfully defended. Also in order to make an South-Central Norway map and Narvik map, rather than attack you must commit at least one Firestorm ground Unit just one map. This was the best way to capture the essence to the battle which effectively means you can only attack of the Norwegian Campaign. The rules are still simple, as is from regions containing Firestorm Troops. Empty areas can fitting for Firestorm, but hopefully capture the flavour of the still be attacked into and they defend. Battle for Norway. Another reason for breaking this up is Mini-Campaign: Unlike Bagration and Market Garden this the fact that Norway is a large country but the fighting was is not a large scale campaign and is easily played with only concentrated in the south/centre section of the country and two or four players. If you are a larger group you will need around Narvik. Trying to do just one map would mean that to work something out; be flexible. Also, if you have access either it had to be very big or there wouldn’t have been much to a good miniature naval game, I urge you to play out those room on the map for the areas where most of the fighting battles as miniature games if you can. took place. This is a first in Firestorms and it will be fun to see how it works out. No Exploitation Moves: There are no exploitation moves in Firestorm Norway. Actions: Also called Strategic Actions determine which player can perform an action on the Strategic Map by selecting Roll to Destroy: Due to the difficulty of reinforcing and a group of Surface Ships or Submarines or Aircraft and replacing losses, any Firestorm Troop in Firestorm: Norway activate them for movement and/or combat. Both players that is destroyed is removed from the game and cannot may Pass their Action, in which case it is counted as being return. played although nothing is done. HMS Warspite 2 Supply: Firestorm Norway uses a simple but different Turns & Battles: Each turn has a suggested number of battles system for supply.