Let's talk a bit about the Road to Bastogne campaign

[Bulletpoint]

I just finished this campaign, and from what I can see, it's a bit overlooked. When it was completed by @Lille Fiskerby, it seems most people just said thanks, but they had lots to play at that time, so they just put it on hold, and as far as I can see, there was never any real discussion or feedback. 

So I'd like to talk a bit about it, to share views and also to give credit to a good campaign designer.

Overall, I enjoyed this campaign. The operational situation was interesting, and there were many hard tactical problems to solve along the way. Briefings were well done, and the historical side of the campaign seemed well researched - it had that air of authenticity that makes the campaign feel like a real military operation, not just some tabletop game. Also, I liked that some of the missions were split into a recon phase and a proper attack phase.

I did feel, however, that many of the battles were simply too big. In most cases, those battles were effectively 3-4 smaller engagements going on at the same time, that did not really affect each other. While this meant a great sense of scale and some fun stuff like being able to call in fire support from on-map Grilles, it also felt exhausting to me to keep mental track of so many individual tactical situations and switch between them again and again. And this comes from a guy who played these games for years, so it's not just a matter of getting used to it. I feel the campaign would have been more enjoyable if these big battles had been split up in a couple of smaller engagements.

The quality of the maps was decent (I believe they were stock maps?). However, a minor gripe was that the layout of the towns left something to be desired, as they did not look like WW2 era towns, but more like modern suburbia. The difference is that towns back then had more houses clumping together, while modern towns are usually with each house separated. I confirmed this by looking at a WW2 aerial photo of St. Vith, and while it's difficult to see details because the town is in ruins and covered with snow, it's clear that many of the buildings would have been physically joined.

As a final point, I think it was a bit odd to command a supposedly elite unit (The Führerbegleitbrigade, Hitler's bodyguard brigade), but then seeing that they had the same level of experience as any other standard unit - mostly regulars with a few greens and veterans here and there. I'm not asking for SSupermen. But even at this late stage of the war, I believe the Germans did have some quality units left, and the Bulge was where they saw action.

Despite these small points, in conclusion I would like to thank the designer for making this campaign and letting me have a go at fighting my way to Bastogne. I was able to win or get a draw in all the battles apart from the last one, that ended in a defeat - but with a combined campaign win.

I hope to see more campaigns from Lille Fiskerby in the future.

 

[Warts 'n' all]

I've tried this campaign twice. And got stuffed both times early doors. So I can't comment on the quality of the urban maps.

As for your comment on the FBB being an "Elite" unit your word "supposedly" is nearer the mark. You have to keep in mind that for most of war it had been seconded to the Grossdeutschland Division. And by 1944 it was a shadow of it's former self. A rag tag of elite troops and scratch units. It even had to be fleshed out with bicycle infantry for the Ardennes offensive.

[Bulletpoint]

 

42 minutes ago, Warts 'n' all said:

As for your comment on the FBB being an "Elite" unit your word "supposedly" is nearer the mark. You have to keep in mind that for most of war it had been seconded to the Grossdeutschland Division. And by 1944 it was a shadow of it's former self. A rag tag of elite troops and scratch units.

To reflect this, I think it would have been better to have a mix of elite and green units, but in the campaign, it seems to be mostly regulars with the odd vet or green. That's what struck me as a bit odd.

 

[Warts 'n' all]

At least you did much better than I could manage. So, well done.

[Lille Fiskerby]

Better late than never but I had to deal with real life problems, thank you for the comments.

On ‎2‎/‎16‎/‎2019 at 11:42 AM, Bulletpoint said:

I did feel, however, that many of the battles were simply too big.

I get what you are saying and I would like to make smaller missions, maybe sometime in the future I will make a smaller campaign huge campaigns takes a ton of time !

 

On ‎2‎/‎16‎/‎2019 at 11:42 AM, Bulletpoint said:

As a final point, I think it was a bit odd to command a supposedly elite unit (The Führerbegleitbrigade, Hitler's bodyguard brigade), but then seeing that they had the same level of experience as any other standard unit - mostly regulars with a few greens and veterans here and there.

Good point, but I dont think that matters so much on the fighting capabilities of the core units, but again I get it. One thing I have done wrong in my campaigns is using to many non core units but that wont be a problem in my next campaign that I'm working on.

BTW Bulletpoint yes I'm Danish, "fra djævleøen" .