New Campaigns

[Double_Deuce]

Anyone working on any new campaigns? I have several in various states of completion and am thinking about dusting them off and working on them. Just curious to see what others are working on it any.

[AB]

I was thinking of starting a campaing over these holidays. I'm not sure whether to do a wwII or plasmakrabs new oob. Either way, it would be a large scaled compaign - arm. btn. task force.

I would be looking for some help in setting up the a.i. forces.

AB

[PatG]

I just started work on a small scale Russian partisan campaign with an emphasis on logistics.

[Double_Deuce]

I'm testing a "2" scenario campaign where the 1st scenario is basically just a filler/briefing and the 2nd scenario is the actual scenario. This format allows the player to deploy their forces in the scenario like they would in a campaign. If anyone wants to test this (its small, 1 company size force) please post here and I'll send it to you. I'll post more info as I get it written up.

[Double_Deuce]

Here's the draft briefing;

Vogt's Ritterkreuz

Date: May 1940
Game/Version: WinSPWW2 (v3.0)
Fixed Core Force Campaign

# Turns: 12
Nation: Netherlands
Command Size: Company (-)

Number of Scenarios: 1

INTRODUCTION:
As Operation Yellow opened, the Recon Battalion of the Verfugungs Truppen (or "V" Division) was detailed to Kampfgruppe Grave. This battle group was assigned the task of seizing bridges across the Waal River at Nijmegan, Neersbotsch, Hatert, Malden and Hueman. As the commander of the Dutch Security Forces defending Hatert, it is your job to stop the bridge from falling to the Germans at all costs.

AFTERMATH:
Only the bridge at Heuman was able to be taken intact. At Hatert every man in the assault detachment was either killed or wounded. A wounded Oberscharfurher Franz Vogt led the remnants of his unit, 4 men, on to capture the the damaged bridge against tenacious Dutch Resistance. Franz Vogt was awarded the Knights Cross for his bravery and determination. Vogt was the first man from the unit that was to become the 2nd SS Panzer Division "Das Reich" to be awarded the Ritterkreuz.

[narwan]

"This battle group was assigned the task of seizing bridges across the Waal River at Nijmegan, Neersbotsch, Hatert, Malden and Hueman"


Correct spelling would be: Nijmegen; Neerbosch; Heumen; (Hatert and Malden are correct).
I actually live in spitting distance of the Waal bridge at Nijmegen.

Narwan

[junk2drive]

Sounds interesting. I like early war as allies. Send it please.

Do you need it tested solo or pbem?

[Double_Deuce]

Originally Posted by junk2drive

Sounds interesting. I like early war as allies. Send it please.

Do you need it tested solo or pbem?

I need it tested solo from the Dutch side. Its a scenario BUT compiled in the campaign format, so you can deploy your forces as you want instead of going with a typical "forced" scenario setup.

Email sent.

[reverend]

I'm working on a couple of maps, mostly designing smaller parts to be used and re-used. Although I might borrow that 2-scenario idea instead of setting up a classical scenario.

[narwan]

Couldn't help myself there.

Funny thing is though, I've not heard the engagement described like that before. I assume you have references that go back to german sources?
German battle accounts in the Netherlands and those by the SS in particular are very unreliable. It's not that a national thing about our dutch troops being much better than depicted but more about the german accounts being full of battles and firefights that never happened.

The dutch were deployed defensively with nothing more than very weak static blocking forces in the eastern half of the country. The positions and armaments of these troops are well known and documented. On numerous occasions the germans report heavy resistance, heavy mg fire, artillery fire or heavy AT-fire in regions where those types of weapons were not available at all (the blocking forces rarely had more than small arms with the occassional lmg) and also where there were no dutch troops at all. Not even stragglers the german could have run into, etc.

There is a huge discrepancy between german battle accounts and dutch battle accounts (the SS accounts are worst closely followed by the reports of the para/airlanding corps).

I think the reason is mainly political. The german plan called for the dutch to either give in within hours like the danish or be militairily beaten in two days max. In fact in most places the germans failed to reach the main dutch defensive lines on day one. The bulk of the SS division even failed to reach it on day 2. And between the german/dutch border and these main defence lines were just these very weak blocking forces.
So resistance was invented where none had existed and heavy fighting reported where light skirmishes had taken place. Similarly the SS in particular reported many 'heroic' feats by it's mean in such 'battles'. That too was political as at this points the SS consisted of barely trained nazi fanatics. They were brave, but on the whole still bad soldiers (they'd learn fast though). Himmler wanted them to be elite so their performance got 'polished'. The same is seen with the SS forces operating against belgium and france during the 40's campaign.

Here's a link to the fight in the Netherlands in may '40 btw. This page refers tot he battles you mention here:

http://www.waroverholland.nl/

(pick may 10; "Part III: the Maas-Waalline" for a description of the battles you mention).

I can find some more material in dutch for reference if you want.