French vs British campaign (alternate history)

Asbestos · **Asbestos**

Hey all, this is my first try at a scenario. Feedback is appreciated.

Alternative History Scenario

Cheesy Working Title: "The (French) Empire Strikes Back"

July 1940: The British launch Operation Catapult, an attempt to sieze or destroy the French fleet. Over 1000 French sailors die in Mers-El-Kebir as their ships take fire from their former allies.

September 1940: British and Free French forces attempt to take Dakar, a colonial French port. They are repelled by the battleship Richelieu and shore batteries. The French launch air raids on Gibraltar in retaliation.

January 1941: British forces interdict a French convoy moving from Casablanca to Oran. During the boarding action a British destroyer fires on a liner, killing two passengers, including a young girl. The convoy is forced to Gibralter.

March 1941: British forces attempt to intercept a French convoy from Casablanca, the convoy retreats to French colonial waters and shore batteries. One of the British ships is hit by a dive bomber.

June 1941: British and Commonwealth forces, on a downward slope after the defeat in Crete and the loss of the Hood, invade Syria.

The invasion enraged Admiral Darlan who immediately wanted to sortie the fleet to send troops to Syria. His advisors managed to calm him down, much to the disappointment of the Germans.

The following scenario assumes that Darlan's advisors were less than successful...

Nazi High Command is ecstatic with Darlan's decision and quickly offers to provide air support for the convoy as it crosses the Mediterranean. The British have been keeping a keen eye on Toulon and planes soon report that a fleet is underway. In response the British prepare to move elements of Force H and the Mediterranean Fleet to intercept the French convoy. Not only are Vichy/British relations tense, but all Franco-Anglo relations are. The British War Cabinet, already resistant to using De Gaulle's Free French troops in action, outright ceases to involve them in any active way and security is stepped up around the French ships interned in Britain and Alexandria. If the convoy arrives it may mean yet another defeat for the British and jeopardize their holdings in North Africa. As well, any hostile interaction between the French convoy and British forces may lead to a declaration of war against Vichy France by Britain, or vice versa. At this point Britain is the only major Allied nation at war, the Reich has yet to invade the Soviet Union and the Japanese have yet to attack Pearl Harbor.

Part 1:
The following action takes place as the French convoy approaches the Sicilian Narrows en route to Syria. It is a standard convoy scenario except as noted.

French Convoy:
Year limit: 1941
150 points.
Ships:
May only include one BB (Strasbourg for the historicals)
May contain one German or Italian sub.
The land Airbase may contain German or Italian units, Italian units cost 2 points less but all have the SA 'uncertain arrival'.
The land Airbase may base six units.

Force H:
Year limit: 1941
125 points.
Ships:
No Hood (though bringing her isn't all that game changing)
No Warspite
No planes may be based at the land airbase.
May include Van Galens, Haidas, or Aruntas despite the date listed on the stat cards for those ships.

Part 2:
These actions take place before the French fleet reaches Syria, but after they have passed into the eastern Med.

The French Fleet and Italian reinforcements:
Year limit: 1941
200 pts, surviving units keep their damage.
May include Italian units.
May include 1 German submarine (in addition to any surviving from Part 1)
Air units operate in the same fashion as Part 1, the land airbase may base 7 units.

British Mediterranean Fleet:
Year limit: 1941
160 pts.
Warspite may be included.
No Ark Royal.
Land Airbase may only base 3 units (lack of significant British airbases in this region)
May include Van Galens, Haidas, or Aruntas despite the date listed on the stat cards for those ships.

Asbestos · **Asbestos**

I was hoping that the lack of land bases for the British would a) be somewhat historical and b) help balance things out with the British CVs.

The Italian air units have 'Uncertain Arrival' for historical reasons. Aeronautica was infamous for failing to arrive when they were supposed to. The cost reduction is meant to balance with this negative SA. Players controlling the French fleet are forced to choose between reliable German units and cheaper Italian units.

The lack of Warspite in Part 1 is due to her being in the eastern Med at this time, likewise Ark Royal was in the western Med and is excluded from part 2.

Hoping to get some feedback and then work on the rest of the campaign.

afilter · **afilter**

Looks very interesting. I will have to look into it more. Leaving the fleet choices open is good for players that maybe do not have all the mini yet. Suggested historical fleets might be a good idea to add as well.

I did a similar scenario of French vs. UK for our large map rules a while ago as well.

I really like the possibilites here. Cool

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Aaron

"Focus on your own character and your reputation will take care of itself"

Asbestos · **Asbestos**

afilter · **afilter**

Aquarius · **Aquarius**

Nice write-up!
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I have to make a new sig because my old one is too wide for this new look...

Asbestos · **Asbestos**

Asbestos · **Asbestos**

Suggested Historical Fleets:

Part 1
French Convoy, 150pts
Dunkerque: 36 pts
Suffren: 14
Suffren: 14
Milan x4: 32
SM. 79 x 2: 18 (with Uncertain Arrival)
Bf-109: 7
Folgore: 3 (with Uncertain Arrival)
Kondor x2: 12
U-47: 14
Edit: Recently realized that the Kondor isn't '41, but is '42 (because of the glide bomb) So this aircraft group isn't exactly correct.

Force H, 124pts (out of 125)
Repulse: 33
Ark Royal: 22
Swordfishx2: 20
Hurricane: 5
Ajax x2: 26
Javelin x2: 18

or

Rodney: 58
Illustrious: 20
Swordfish: 10
Hurricane: 5
Ajax: 13
Javelinx2: 18

Part 2:
French/Italian Forces, 200pts
The makeup of this fleet is highly dependent on what survives Part 1. For the most part the Italian reinforcements are restricted only by year and class limits, however, in terms of CAs, the Italians should only be able to bring 3 Bolzanos (representing Bolzano and the Trentos) and Gorizia as the rest of the Zara class had already been sunk.

British Mediterranean Fleet, 160pts
Warspite: 46pts
Warspite: 44pts (This Warspite represents Malaya and is without the Long-Shot SA)
Leander: 13 pts
Sydney: 14 pts
Kent: 13 pts
Swordfishx3: 30pts

The makeup of the British Mediterranean fleet in Part 2 is meant to represent the BB heavy, but DD deficient fleet that was stationed in Alexandria. Of course the fleet wasn't devoid of DDs, so an alternative to the above could be made by dropping cruiser(s) and adding in DDs.

Note that Aruntas, Haidas, and Van Galens should all be available for use by the British fleets, despite the 1942 date listed on the cards.

Edit: According to my research most of the British carriers were either deployed in other theaters or were undergoing repairs in June 1941. Based on what I've put together, the Med fleet shouldn't have any functioning CVs and Force H should only have access to Ark Royal and a single Illustrious. So, for historical gamers the limitation of 'No Aircraft Carriers' should be added into the British fleet for Part 2. I'm not sure if I want to add this into the more 'open' scenario.

Asbestos · **Asbestos**

Those using custom cards may want to look into using Malaya's card (which happens to be 44 points) for the second Warspite and might keep an eye open for the French CA Algerie (Weeds is working on its card) for inclusion in the French Convoy.

Alright, I think that I've included something for everyone so far, we've got pretty open choices for those without minis/those that want some freedom, we've got examples of historical fleets, and we've got suggestions for forumini ships to include!

Now, if only I didn't leave my minis in Albany Crying or Very sad

I can't get back to them to playtest this until the first weekend in October.

Stormhawk4107 · **Stormhawk4107**

Looks very interesting! May I print it out to try it with friends sometime?
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Asbestos · **Asbestos**

Greyh Seer · **Greyh Seer**

looks very interesting. I look forward to the play test reports.

One thing I did notice: check your years on your dates - some of them revert back to 1940 when they should be 1941

very good job btw! goodpost

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-Greyh

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Asbestos · **Asbestos**

Asbestos · **Asbestos**

The Algerie is here! Feel free to include her in your French fleets.

http://aaminis.myfastforum.org/sutra196278.php#196278

Weeds posted her card in that thread, she's a darn nice CA at 17 points.

French players might also consider the Commandante Teste with an appropriate seaplane as she was also stationed in Toulon at the time of this scenario.

Asbestos · **Asbestos**

So this weekend I had some free time up in Albany and managed to playtest Part 1 of the scenario.

My girlfriend took the role of the French, fielding a fleet very similar to the suggested historical fleet. The only difference was in her choice of Aircraft, for the Germans she took two 109s and a Ju87, for the Italians she had a SM.79, Folgore, and Ju87R2.

I played the Brits, taking a modified version of the Repulse group from the suggested fleets. If I had an Illustrious I'd have probably taken the Rodney group so I could field a larger BB... though as I'll explain later that wouldn't have helped much. I only have 1 Swordfish so I doubled up on Hurricanes on Ark and changed the Destroyer group around a little by taking a Javelin, Van Galen, and a Haida. I thought about taking a Martlett and turning Van Galen into an Arunta, but I couldn't find anything suggesting that Martletts were serving in the Med at this time so I stuck with the Hurricane/Van Galen.

Realizing I didn't have enough JOBs to do a proper convoy scenario, I threw my girlfriend two Gunston Halls and a Nordmark to fill in her fleet, but it probably wouldn't have mattered...

Map: Open Sea
Round 1: The French win initiative.
British movements:
British forces advance with Repulse/Leander moving forward and to the top of the map, Javelin/Van Galen/Haida move forward to close with U-47 sitting dangerously in the center of the map. Ark/Ajax move cautiously along the top of the map.

French movements:
The convoy ships huddle up with each other along with a Suffren. Two destroyers stick close, moving ahead one along the top of the map. Dunkerque/Milan and Suffren/Milan advance boldly towards the center of the map. U-47 inches within 2 of the enemy destroyer squadron, attempting to get a firing solution on Repulse.

Air Movements:
Now, I figured I could be cautious and launch my Swordfish at U-47... but I was also aware that I had to do some damage to the convoy. As such I picked out a pair of Auxs with the hope that if my Swordfish got through, one of its 4 torps might hit. In response a Stuka appeared in the sky above my destroyer squadron. The Swordfish was soon greeted by a 109, and the Stuka by a Hurricane. Then the reverse occurred as escorting fighters showed up.

Air Defense:
A British destroyer managed to abort the Ju87 and the Swordfish was splashed under 109 fire, despite its escort. Fighters fired ineffectually at each other.

Air Attack:
No Action

Surface Attack:
No Action

Submarine Attack:
U-47 puts a spread of torpedoes in the water towards Repulse with no success. I was tempted to declare 'Evade Torpedoes' but thought I'd save it.

Air Return Phase:
My gf rolls for the Uncertain Arrival of her Italian planes. A SM79 and Ju87R2 show up to participate in the engagement.

Round 2: French win initiative.
British movements:
I moved the destroyer squadron forward and towards the top of the map, attempting to put it between the French/U-47 and Repulse with the hopes of using the ASW threat against U-47 and Javelin's smoke to block line of sight to Repulse. Repulse/Leander followed up to get in line with the destroyers.

French movements:
The French warships continued their advance and U-47 plowed into my destroyers(!?). I considered that she wanted to take the quickest possible route to Repulse, and damn the depth charges! It was an unexpectedly aggressive action.

Air movements:
A Hurricane takes to the skies above Ark and is greeted by an SM.79. My second Hurricane, not knowing what to do, flies off to strafe a JOB. In response the Ju87R2 flies for the British destroyer squadron.

Air Defense:
The SM.79 and strafing Hurricane are soundly aborted but the Ju87R2 flies through the terribly inaccurate AA fire of THREE destroyers. Press didn't even come into account, it might as well have been a plain Stuka.

Air Attack:
The Ju87R2s vital Javelin!! The destroyer screen has now lost its ability to produce smoke! Oh well, Repulse should be able to take a hit, right?

Surface Attack: British Actions:
Repulse fires ineffectually at Dunkerque and Leander attacks Suffren, hitting her armor for 1 hull point of damage. Dunkerque's secondaries manage to damage a Milan as well. Van Galen and Haida are left with a choice... drop fish in the water with the hope of hitting some French ships... or deal with the U-boat lurking beneath them. Haida, with its weaker torps, attempts to drop charges on U-47, to no effect. Van Galen, looking at putting one torp at a TD 1 ship or trying to sink a 14 point U-boat also opts for the U-boat. Getting 4 successes with 5 charges, she sends the German crew to the deep.

Surface Attack: French Actions:
What follows is a flurry of gunnery and explosive ship destruction.

Suffren fires on Repluse with her mains, doing no damage but setting up Excellent Spotting for Dunkerque. Dunkerque rolls 12 dice... and gets... 15 successes!!! Enough to vital Rodney, or anything but a Yamato for that matter! The French destroyers then open fire with main gunnery on the British destoyers, each one doing damage. Dunkerque and Suffren then take aim at the damaged ships with their secondaries and finish them off.

Submarine Phase:
Nothing

Air Return Phase:
Folgores have yet to arrive, but two 109s and a Stuka are good to go for Round 3.

Round 3:
The British fleet, consisting of Leander, Ajax, and Ark Royal, retreats as I concede the game.

Aftermath:
British Units Lost:
Swordfish, Repulse, Javelin, Van Galen, Haida.
British Units Damaged:
None
French/Axis Units Lost:
U-47
French/Axis Units Damaged:
Suffren- 1 hull point of damage.
Milan- 1 hull point of damage, crippled.

Asbestos · **Asbestos**

All in all the game felt very anticlimactic with my fleet being reduced to less than half its strength after the first surface engagement and my BB vitaled without even damaging the enemy BB. But that's more the luck of the die than anything I suppose.

As for the scenario... two things work against the British here, the year limit taking away the Brits actually acceptable carrier based attack aircraft and only submarine, and the lack of a land airbase. If I were to do it again I'd probably either load up Ark Royal with Martlets or not even include the carrier at all. Afterall, I spent 42 points on her and her birds and... I could've probably spent that on more DDs or even another Repulse and still have room for a destroyer! The latter option however leaves the British forces devoid of aircraft for defense (or attack) since they have no way to base them. Though, without the landbase Ark Royal was basically a 42 point ship... if she went down her birds would have nowhere to go but the sea.

My only solace is that despite this being a crushing defeat for Britain (who lost the Hood only a month ago) the French/Axis have to go into Part 2 with a damaged CA.... yeah, that isn't much solace.

Duke_Striker · **Duke_Striker**

Great report - too bad about the Repulse, but that's the way it goes sometimes. I agree with your point regarding the balance of the British Air - 42 points is a lot to pay for ineffective air - in this battle, maybe a Renown would have tipped the sales a bit closer to the Brit side, but such are the fortunes of war !

On the plus side, if you do get your butt kicked this badly, having the girlfriend do it can be advantageous politically outside of the game Very Happy

Asbestos · **Asbestos**

Yeah, I think next time I'll put both Refit and Repair into the fight, taking along an Arunta to protect them from U-47 (why wouldn't the French player bring that in the scenario?)

Yeah, beating me makes my girlfriend happy... which works out pretty well.

I was looking over various units to make sure their starting years were correct, to see if anything other than the British destroyers should be in this fight and I came across something interesting...
Apparently the Ju-88 A-4s were operating in early '41, meaning they should be available in this scenario. I was also wondering how to tweak the Kondor to make an early war version. I think that dropping the missile and dropping the cost to 5 would be fair. Though, at 5 points and no missile (and no subs to kill) it'd basically be a less armored Stuka but at 2 points less, which isn't that bad.

The downside is, that with all these German options there's way less incentive to bring Italian planes, even at the reduced cost. It also makes it much, much harder for the Brits (the Ju-88s would be killer without air cover)

Asbestos · **Asbestos**

Ran Part 2. It was a nailbiter, but smoke kept the French/Italian fleet alive. Dunkerque was lost however. It helped that a BB failed to take out some Auxs with its mains and that the Italians really brought the fight.

Thought that part 2 could be an interesting 3 player thing. One player as the Brits, one as the French, and one as the Axis powers.

A lot of how both of these games went was luck dependent, I retested the first with two Repulses instead of Ark and the French were obliterated. Of course the French player made some horrible mistakes (his smoke creating Milans went off to deal with my British squad of 3 DDs and 1 CA, while the Dunkerque and two Sufferns went up against two Repulse and two Leanders, not wise!)

I think that I'll add in that the convoy ships deploy in the 2nd round. This protects them from any 1st round air (in Part 2) and lets them start on a side of the map furthest away from the main British fleet. I think that in general this helps balance out the Convoy scenario.

Anyway, with the French getting their troops into Syria and the Brits having lost some major material (3 BBs between the 2 scenarios) war is declared between France and Britain. This massive change causes Hitler to delay the invasion of the USSR and to turn his attention back on the UK/North Africa. The Italians spent a lot of fuel helping the convoy and some of the battleline is in for repairs, but they are in a much better position than the Brits. Churchill is forced to divert a larger portion of the Home Fleet to reinforce Force H and is faced with the decision to further deplete the Far Eastern/Indian fleets or to leave Alexandria weakened.

Next up: The Malta Situation.
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