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Fall Grau 2.27 - 1/27/2021 6:16:53 PM

golden delicious

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Here's a scenario which has been in private circulation for a while (about 20 years). Although in theory there is more to do on it I think by the time it would all be done another 20 years will have passed, so here it is: enjoy.

Fall Grau
V2.27
Fictional Axis invasion of North America, 1943
Map Scale: 25km/hex

Original Scenario by Jeremy Mac Donald. V2 and 25km/hex design by Ben Turner

This scenario is not a true hypothetical in that it does not attempt to deal with the immense logistical problem of mounting an invasion across the Atlantic onto a hostile shore. Instead the scenario is more along the lines of those most fanciful what-ifs: would a Roman legion wipe the floor with the contemporary Chinese armies- or vice versa? Here, the immense military power of the Axis is pitted against the equally staggering industrial resources of North America.

Fall Grau is one of the most replayable I�ve encountered. Because almost the entire Axis OOB begins off-map, and the Axis player has a more or less free choice of where to deploy each unit, no two matches will follow the same pattern. Add to this the strategic options presented by the different sealift TOs and the question of when and where to bring in the Japanese and there is a very high degree of unpredictability.

On top of all that, the unit density on this very large map is extremely low. Even with the lower-than-usual unit size for the scale, it will be impractical for the player to build a continuous front across the map. Instead, it will be prudent to concentrate strong forces at key points, whilst leaving other areas only lightly screened. However, due to the excellent road network in the United States, there are few areas of the map that can be ruled out as a possible area for enemy attacks.

The .zip contains the scenario file, a full manual and a quick start guide which is just one page for the impatient among you. The zip will unpack directly in the chosen folder so you should extract it in the folder which contains your scenarios.

Please note that this scenario is NOT for PO play.

Attachment (1)

< Message edited by golden delicious -- 1/27/2021 6:18:13 PM >

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RE: Fall Grau 2.27 - 1/27/2021 6:20:46 PM

golden delicious

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Some sample screenshots to give you some idea of what to expect

Panzertruppen surge over the St. Lawrence using bridges captured intact by airborne troops

Attachment (1)

< Message edited by golden delicious -- 1/27/2021 6:22:07 PM >

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RE: Fall Grau 2.27 - 1/27/2021 6:21:41 PM

golden delicious

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SS Panzer divisions race to cross the Missouri before the American defence can coalesce

Attachment (1)

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RE: Fall Grau 2.27 - 1/27/2021 7:20:58 PM

FaneFlugt

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Any japanese coming from the east in that scenario? Reminds me of the "the man in the high Castle" good book, Mmm ok tv-series.

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RE: Fall Grau 2.27 - 1/27/2021 11:48:24 PM

governato

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sounds like fun! Are there nukes :)

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RE: Fall Grau 2.27 - 1/28/2021 8:06:17 AM

golden delicious

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quote:

ORIGINAL: governato

sounds like fun! Are there nukes :)

The scenario ends before the atomic bomb would be ready. In practice a small number of low-kiloton nuclear weapons would not be decisive on the battlefield here: the Allies would need to develop bases to hit European or Japanese cities (which are all well out of range of North America), or be reduced to nuking their own cities to wipe out Axis port facilities.

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RE: Fall Grau 2.27 - 1/28/2021 8:06:41 AM

golden delicious

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quote:

ORIGINAL: FaneFlugt

Any japanese coming from the east in that scenario? Reminds me of the "the man in the high Castle" good book, Mmm ok tv-series.

That's correct. Further details are in the included briefing documents

I'm planning to post an old match between myself (Ben) and Jeremy for this scenario on the AARs forum to give people or more complete flavour of it. I just have to see if I can get a hold of some old save files to get screenshots.

< Message edited by golden delicious -- 1/28/2021 8:14:18 AM >

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RE: Fall Grau 2.27 - 1/28/2021 9:03:40 AM

FaneFlugt

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Sounds fun, and I would appriciate some more info from your AAR. I will have to give it a go, when I have finished my current game. Does it transfer flawlessly to TOAW IV?

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RE: Fall Grau 2.27 - 1/28/2021 11:10:18 AM

golden delicious

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quote:

ORIGINAL: FaneFlugt

Sounds fun, and I would appriciate some more info from your AAR. I will have to give it a go, when I have finished my current game. Does it transfer flawlessly to TOAW IV?

I did the transfer to TOAW IV quite a few versions ago and there've been a number of playtests since then so it's pretty robust.

Because the map is quite large, the Battlefield Timestamps feature is a major advantage for this scenario. Attacks at the limit of a unit's move can take place without having to wait until other attacks are made by units on their start lines. Whether this improves realism is another matter, as plans do tend to go awry in the real world and attacks that should happen often do not. However the scenario is not terribly realistic to begin with and it certainly plays better this way.

I'll aim to start the AAR tonight.

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RE: Fall Grau 2.27 - 1/28/2021 11:27:15 AM

FaneFlugt

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Great, thanks.

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RE: Fall Grau 2.27 - 1/28/2021 5:35:29 PM

golden delicious

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You can find the AAR here

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RE: Fall Grau 2.27 - 2/7/2021 6:39:28 AM

Jeremy Mac Donald

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My favorite scenario... but then again I am very biased.

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RE: Fall Grau 2.27 - 2/7/2021 7:32:22 AM

Jeremy Mac Donald

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Those are really good Guides Ben. The only thing I would have maybe stressed was that the coastal artillery will nearly certainly destroy any unit that ends up beside it - just don't end up beside it. The way I read it makes it sound like it might be worth the risk - its not.

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RE: Fall Grau 2.27 - 2/7/2021 9:49:41 AM

golden delicious

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Jeremy Mac Donald

Those are really good Guides Ben.

Thanks. I used all my MS Word skills here.

quote:

The only thing I would have maybe stressed was that the coastal artillery will nearly certainly destroy any unit that ends up beside it - just don't end up beside it. The way I read it makes it sound like it might be worth the risk - its not.

I must admit this one was drawn from memory. If the topic we're discussing elsewhere leads to a revision I'll strengthen the wording in the guidance accordingly.

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RE: Fall Grau 2.27 - 2/7/2021 2:12:20 PM

Curtis Lemay

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Jeremy Mac Donald

Those are really good Guides Ben. The only thing I would have maybe stressed was that the coastal artillery will nearly certainly destroy any unit that ends up beside it - just don't end up beside it. The way I read it makes it sound like it might be worth the risk - its not.

What's the Naval Attrition Divider? If you left it at the default (10), be aware that post launch tests showed that a value of 100 is better for most situations.

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RE: Fall Grau 2.27 - 2/7/2021 2:28:40 PM

golden delicious

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Curtis Lemay

What's the Naval Attrition Divider? If you left it at the default (10), be aware that post launch tests showed that a value of 100 is better for most situations.

The results Jeremy is describing aren't undesired- actually the point is that the Axis player has to clear coast artillery if he wants to land at a protected harbour. This was mainly done to stop a particular envelopment strategy in the northeast which was overpowered.

Anyway, since you asked, the default is used here. I'll run a couple of tests to see what the impact of changing it should be but it's working as intended at the moment.

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RE: Fall Grau 2.27 - 2/7/2021 2:48:27 PM

Curtis Lemay

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quote:

ORIGINAL: golden delicious

quote:

ORIGINAL: Curtis Lemay

What's the Naval Attrition Divider? If you left it at the default (10), be aware that post launch tests showed that a value of 100 is better for most situations.

The results Jeremy is describing aren't undesired- actually the point is that the Axis player has to clear coast artillery if he wants to land at a protected harbour. This was mainly done to stop a particular envelopment strategy in the northeast which was overpowered.

Anyway, since you asked, the default is used here. I'll run a couple of tests to see what the impact of changing it should be but it's working as intended at the moment.

With the NAD at 10, each shore gun gets to fire 10 rounds before the ships can respond. At 100, each will fire 1 round before the ships get to fire back.

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RE: Fall Grau 2.27 - 2/7/2021 2:52:11 PM

golden delicious

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For this test, one of the starting stacks of German troops (7 divisions plus an HQ) deliberately move into range of one of the coast gun units

NAD = 10: 6 divisions and the HQ are almost completely annihilated. Because of some quirk in the way the combat is triggered, the last division enters the hex unharmed
NAD = 20: The engaged units take about 50% losses
NAD = 33: The engaged units take 20-30% losses

Sort of as one would expect. The real key here is to stop the Germans waltzing into Chesapeake Bay, and to do this you have to pass through at least two hexes screened by coast guns, so you'd have to take two hits accordingly to do this. As such I could see raising the NAD up as high as 33 so that one could land a ruined mess of a force at Baltimore. However it wouldn't change the scenario substantially: it would still probably be a good idea to clear the mouth of the bay first.

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RE: Fall Grau 2.27 - 2/7/2021 2:53:40 PM

golden delicious

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Curtis Lemay

With the NAD at 10, each shore gun gets to fire 10 rounds before the ships can respond. At 100, each will fire 1 round before the ships get to fire back.

They won't fire back at all as in game terms there are no ships, only embarked units.

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RE: Fall Grau 2.27 - 2/7/2021 3:03:37 PM

Curtis Lemay

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quote:

ORIGINAL: golden delicious

quote:

ORIGINAL: Curtis Lemay

With the NAD at 10, each shore gun gets to fire 10 rounds before the ships can respond. At 100, each will fire 1 round before the ships get to fire back.

They won't fire back at all as in game terms there are no ships, only embarked units.

!!!?

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RE: Fall Grau 2.27 - 2/7/2021 3:07:30 PM

golden delicious

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Curtis Lemay

!!!?

I refer you to the first post:

"This scenario is not a true hypothetical in that it does not attempt to deal with the immense logistical problem of mounting an invasion across the Atlantic onto a hostile shore."

Naval warfare is not really present in this scenarios. Apart from anything else, the combination of scales (25km/hex and full week turns) which is suitable for land warfare is not suitable to naval warfare. However the coast guns provided a useful mechanism to make a particular strategy less of a "gimme" for the Axis player. If he wants to do it, he either has to go the long way from south of Norfolk, or use airborne troops to neutralise the coast guns.

< Message edited by golden delicious -- 2/7/2021 3:09:27 PM >

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RE: Fall Grau 2.27 - 2/7/2021 3:13:44 PM

Curtis Lemay

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Alright. Fair enough.

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RE: Fall Grau 2.27 - 2/7/2021 3:56:36 PM

golden delicious

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Curtis Lemay

Alright. Fair enough.

I know this goes in the opposite direction to what I normally say about TOAW, but I took on this project based on being a fanboy for Jeremy's original scenario and radically changing the design philosophy would have defeated the point.

I do occasionally toy with the idea of doing this properly: under what circumstances could Germany have invaded North America and what would that have looked like? There are two problems:
1) it's a massive and very complicated project- and I keep on thinking "hey this would be great at 10km/hex" and then realising I don't want to map the whole southeast at that scale
2) one has to build in a large number of assumptions just to prevent the Germans being wiped out before they show up. Basically the United States has to be totally disarmed and to stay that way while the Germans build up substantial bases in the Caribbean.

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RE: Fall Grau 2.27 - 2/7/2021 6:17:28 PM

rhinobones

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quote:

ORIGINAL: golden delicious
. . . one has to build in a large number of assumptions just to prevent the Germans being wiped out before they show up. Basically the United States has to be totally disarmed and to stay that way while the Germans build up substantial bases in the Caribbean.

Push the invasion date up to 1939-1940 before the US rearmed and Germany became involved in France and Russia. Think this would tend to make the assumptions a bit more palatable.

Regards

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RE: Fall Grau 2.27 - 2/7/2021 10:36:06 PM

Jeremy Mac Donald

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Curtis Lemay

quote:

ORIGINAL: golden delicious

quote:

ORIGINAL: Curtis Lemay

With the NAD at 10, each shore gun gets to fire 10 rounds before the ships can respond. At 100, each will fire 1 round before the ships get to fire back.

They won't fire back at all as in game terms there are no ships, only embarked units.

!!!?

The entire landing element is pretty abstract. I have always assumed that the Axis fleets are certainly on the scene and playing some vital part of this insanely large invasion of North America from Europe but that they are not necessarily free to do whatever the Player wants with them. They are tied up in the planning and logistics end essentially.

While making the Chesapeake a death trap for a major German landing was fundamentally done for balance reasons it was a pretty easy call - it is easy to imagine that it would be a death trap due to the confined space and that it is such an obviousness starting location for what American naval defense preparations have gotten underway.

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RE: Fall Grau 2.27 - 2/7/2021 10:40:36 PM

Jeremy Mac Donald

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I think most people would find this even harder to swallow then the 1943 invasion. I am not sure how obviously impossible this idea is to the average gamer. The starting assumptions are that Britain was knocked out in 1941 and Russia early in 1942 and Germany has won it all.

When I first sat down to make this I assumed that this would have made this feasible - look closely and it still is not but if one does not look to closely well then maybe...

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RE: Fall Grau 2.27 - 2/8/2021 8:37:37 AM

golden delicious

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quote:

ORIGINAL: rhinobones

Push the invasion date up to 1939-1940 before the US rearmed and Germany became involved in France and Russia. Think this would tend to make the assumptions a bit more palatable.

This sort of assumes that Britain and France just wave the German invasion fleet past- and that Russia happily sits on her hands while Europe invades America.

I don't think it works. Frankly I don't think any timeline works for Fall Grau as it has all sorts of impossible things happening. If you wanted to make a remotely realistic scenario then you have to assume that Germany simply crushes all her European opponents by the end of 1941, which isn't all that far fetched and many at the time expected exactly this to happen. Then one has 18 months of build up where Germany for whatever reason decides to go off and crush the United States as well, establishing various bases in the Caribbean which can then be used to advance up through Cuba and Florida, and possibly via Mexico. Any other landings would be totally unsupportable due to the need to get land-based fighter cover over the invasion area, so this gives us a very different scenario where the Axis player has to more or less follow the script and fight his way from port to port and airbase to airbase, trying to get out of the Florida bottleneck before the US can mobilise.

For now, Fall Grau sits broadly in the same category as your War of the Ring scenario: something that's entertaining even if it's not exactly simulation. Actually, if you assume Hitler has found the Ring of Power...

< Message edited by golden delicious -- 2/8/2021 8:40:00 AM >

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RE: Fall Grau 2.27 - 2/8/2021 12:50:06 PM

rhinobones

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quote:

ORIGINAL: golden delicious

This sort of assumes . . .

Of course it makes assumptions. The entire premise is a farfetched no matter which time period is used as alternative history. That's why it�s called a game.

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RE: Fall Grau 2.27 - 2/8/2021 2:37:47 PM

golden delicious

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quote:

ORIGINAL: rhinobones

Of course it makes assumptions. The entire premise is a farfetched no matter which time period is used as alternative history. That's why it�s called a game.

Alright- so why mess up the whole thing by moving it to 1939-40- only to still make ludicrous assumptions. In fact even more ludicrous ones than we were already making.

I'm just going to leave it as it is. Step 1: Germany conquers Europe. Step 2: _______ Step 3: Profit

The briefing doesn't even lay out a timeline. Ok, here we are: the Germans just landed in North America. Don't think too much about it and you'll have a good time.

< Message edited by golden delicious -- 2/8/2021 2:38:34 PM >

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RE: Fall Grau 2.27 - 2/8/2021 4:44:42 PM

rhinobones

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In post #22 you hinted at revising the scenario so I thought I would offer a suggestion. Take it or leave it.

My ludicrous assumptions for 1939-40 would be:

1. Germany and Russia divide Poland.
2. The Allies stay with the appeasement strategy.
3. The Russia/German non-aggression pact remains intact.
4. French Blitzkrieg and Barbarossa don�t happen.
5. Germany does not get involved in North Africa.
6. 2 million German troops available for invasion of US
7. Russia takes the opportunity to seize Alaska.
8. Japan invades Hawaii and blockades Panama.
9. Germany captures the Arsenal of Democracy.

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