Part I

Much of Narvik's appeal lies in the uniquely dynamic nature of the situation it portrays. The Norwegian Campaign was the world's first real experience with warfare in three dimensions (land, sea and air), and set a number of major precedents in modern military history. Of these, none was more significant than the Germans' successful attempt to counter Britain's overwhelming naval strength through the use of air power. Deprived of the ability to resupply their scattered enclaves in central and northern Norway by sea, the Germans succeeded in maintaining and reinforcing them through the world's first major military airlift. Furthermore the Luftwaffe managed to keep the Royal Navy at arms length and to seriously interfere with British efforts to maintain their troops ashore. In short, the outcome of the Norwegian campaign was largely decided by air power.

Narvik does place air power in a decisive role, but one would be well-advised to ask how accurate its portrayal is. Europa's air system has been a source of debate ever since the first game was published. Some commentators(this writer included), are of the opinion that shortcomings exist in the air system used by Europa. In most cases, these are acceptable, given that land battles tend to dominate games and dictate their outcomes. In Narvik, however, the geographic situation, the great disparity in naval strengths, and the relative paucity of ground units all serve to lend the air game an importance matched by no other Europa game. The following represents an effort to rectify the few, but significant, shortcomings in Narvik's air system. As I see it, the basic system is fundamentally sound, and the problems that exist mostly concern detail. These fall into three major categories; the off-map airbase ranges, the range and combat ratings of the aircraft, and the German air order of battle.

Off-Map Air Bases

As a consequence of playing Narvik I developed a considerable interest in the Norwegian campaign and undertook to read all the books I could find that dealt with the topic. It was while perusing Ian Cameron's Wings of Morning that I read how British Skua dive-bombers, based at Hatston Field, and flying at their maximum range of 285 miles, bombed and sank the German light cruiser Konigsberg in Bergen harbor on April 9, 1940.

It struck me that given Narvik's 16 miles-per-hex scale, the range from Hatston to Bergen should have been around 18 hexes. However the distance on the map was 26 hexes! With my attention drawn to the issue, I consulted other sources and discovered that both the Hatston Field and Bomber Command off-map base ranges were significantly overstated. These exaggerated ranges make it almost impossible for the British to project air power into Norway except by carrier or double-range missions. The result is that the difficult circumstances faced in Norway by the badly outnumbered Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm become all but hopeless in the game.

The chart given below is reproduced from page 87 of Denis Richards' The Royal Air Force, Vol 1: The Fight at Odds. It shows the distances (in miles) between the listed cities and the nearest Bomber Command airbase. The parenthesized figures are my own. In each case the number to the left of the slash gives the range equivalent in 16-mile hexes, while the number to the right gives the range in hexes as counted on the Narvik map.

Aalborg	500	(31/38)
Stavanger	450	(28/38)
Oslo	600	(37/48)
Trondheim	800	(50/65)
Narvik	1320	(82/92)

The ranges are on the average about 10 hexes too far, a discrepancy with significant effects on play. Therefore the range to the Bomber Command off-map airbase should be 8, and not 18.

I have been unable to find any comparably exacting data with respect to Hatston Field, but with a little extrapolation, one can get around this problem. On page 203 of J. M. Moulton's The Norwegian Campaign of 1940, the author refers to Blenheim 1F night-fighters flying patrols over Andalesnes from Hatston Field, flights which involved a round trip of approximately 900 miles. By cross-referencing this with information that Bergen was approximately 285 miles from Hatston, one discovers that the airbase shouldn't be off-map at all. Instead, triangulation reveals that Hatston should be in or around hex 2933 on map 10A. Again this has enormous effects on play.

Range and Combat Ratings

It is notoriously difficult to find a source that offers reliable data on the ranges of WW II aircraft. Different works often disagree wildly, and the passage of time has served only to further obscure the issue. Nevertheless, there is sufficient agreement among the various sources for one to show that some aircraft ratings in Narvik are at variance with historical fact. This can be vividly demonstrated by turning to Moulton's The Norwegian Campaign of 1940, generally accepted as the best-written and most authoritative single-volume work on the campaign. On page 66, Moulton makes the following statement:

"The problem of air support for the operation was largely one of range and availability of forward airfields. From the Hamburg airfields, Ju 88 and He 111 bombers could reach Oslo and Stavanger and return, but only He 111 could operate over Bergen. Ju 52 could reach Oslo and Stavanger from the Aalborg airfields with their maximum load and return without refueling, but to do so from Hamburg, or to reach Trondheim and return from Aalborg they would have to reduce their load."

Now as any perceptive Europa player will immediately notice, the ranges given to the air units in Narvik simply do not provide an accurate simulation of the circumstances Moulton describes. Many discrepancies emerge when the range ratings of Narvik's air units are subjected to close scrutiny.

The following table is built around data culled from Moulton's appendices, the 1942 edition of Jane's Combat Aircraft of the World, William Green's Warplanes of the Third Reich, and Derek Wood's The Narrow Margin. In each case an effort was made to rationalize the sometimes varying figures given by each of the three sources. The first number shows the effective combat radii (computed as one-half normal range, less 25%) of the aircraft, while the parenthesized figures indicate the equivalent range in 16-mile hexes (to the left of the slash) and the range rating printed on the Europa counter (to the right of the slash). [Note: Balkan Front ranges are shown where available. -- RG]

Ju-52	250	(16/20)
Ju-88	417	(26)
He-111	459	(29/22)
He-115	501	(36/40)
He-59	218	(15)
Whitley	620	(38/24)
Wellington	450	(28)
Hampden	450	(28/24)
Blenheim	422	(26/16)

My recommendation is to substitute the number to the left of the slash for that printed on the air unit counters. One more recommended change is to increase the range of the Blenheim night fighters to 28 hexes, so they can duplicate their historical missions referred to above (the fighter version could fly at ranges further than the bomber model because it wasn't burdened with the weight of a bomb load).

There is also the matter of the ranges given to the Stuka units in the game. The Luftwaffe's standard Stuka model, the Ju-87B, had an operational radius of about 140 miles, which dovetails nicely with the 9-hex range given the Ju-87 units in Narvik. I/STG 1, however, was not equipped with Ju-87Bs. Instead, it employed 40 Ju-87Rs, a version which possessed a much greater range by virtue of carrying 172 Imp. gallons of fuel compared to the 106 carried by the standard model. This extra fuel gave the Ju-87R an operational radius of approximately 225 miles (or 14 hexes). These ratings apply only to the 4 Ju-87 units that appear as reinforcements on turn #3.

The attack and defense ratings of Europa air units, like their range ratings, have long been the subject of intense debate. While Balkan Front has addressed some of the more serious problems which existed in the earlier Narvik, in the interests of realism and historicity, I propose the following additional changes. I must warn, however, that these ratings were not computed scientifically, representing instead an application of the old "that looks about right" method:

1. Me 110s should have both their air attack and defense ratings reduced to three.
2. All of the following air unit types should have their air attack ratings reduced to two: He-111, Ju-88, Hampdens, Whitleys, Wellington 1Cs, and Blenheim night fighters.
3. The Ju-87 and Swordfish should have their air attack ratings reduced to 1.
4. He-111s and Ju-88s should have their air defense ratings reduced to 3, while those of the Ju-87 should be reduced to 2.

German Air OB

Lastly, there is the matter of the German air order of battle. A precise listing of those Luftwaffe units involved in the initial stages of the Norwegian campaign has been drawn from Appendix 4 of Cajus Bekker's The Luftwaffe War Diaries, and is reproduced below:

Kampfgeschwader 4 (He-111)
Kampfgeschwader 26 (He-111)
Kampfgeschwader 30 (Ju-88)
Kampfgruppe 100 (He-111)
I Gruppe/Stukageschwader 1 (Ju-87R)
I Gruppe/Zerstorergeschwader 76 (Me-110)
I Gruppe/Zerstorergeschwader 1 (Me-110)
II Gruppe/Jagdgeschwader 77 (Me-109)
Kustenfliegergruppe 506 (2 Staffeln He-115)
1 Staffel/Kustenfliegergruppe 106 (He-115)

The figures below show the numbers of aircraft on hand at the beginning of the campaign, and are taken from Moulton:

Bombers (He-111 & Ju-88) 290
Dive Bombers (Ju-87R) 40
Fighter-Bombers (Me-110) 70
Fighters (Me-109) 30
Transports (mostly Ju-52) 500

A Geschwader (wing) was a unit that normally consisted of approximately 90-120 aircraft divided into 3 Gruppen (groups). Therefore, assuming that each counter in the game represents a Staffel (squadron) of between 10 and 15 aircraft, we find the numbers of Me-109, Me-110, Ju-88 and Ju-87 units in Narvik are more or less right on the money. Things are less satisfactory, however, with regards to He-111s. The Germans employed 3 Geschwader of bombers in Norway (two of He-111 and one of Ju-88), each composed of 9 Staffeln (squadrons), plus a separate Gruppe of three He-111 Staffeln.

In Narvik, however, there are only 6 squadrons of He-111s instead of the 21 that there actually were. My suggestion is that an additional 6 He-111s should arrive as reinforcements on turn #3. The "missing" 9 He-111s are those of KG 4, the 1st and 2nd Gruppen of which were withdrawn to prepare for the invasion of France on April 15th. These units were omitted from the game because historically the Germans kept about half of their bomber strength in reserve during the early days of the campaign, waiting for opportunities to attack the British fleet. The remaining portion of KG 4, its 3rd Gruppe, represents those Luftwaffe units that continued to operate against British naval units at sea. Since the naval aspects of the Norwegian Campaign are abstracted in Narvik, the Allied player does not receive certain naval units. Therefore, it's only fair (and logical) that the Germans also be penalized.

The number of Ju-52 units in Narvik is also considerably below what my sources indicate, since the Germans employed over 500 Ju-52s in Norway. These were organized into eleven Gruppen each composed of three Staffeln of between 12 and 15 aircraft. The following figures, copied from Ju-52 at War and Warplanes of the Third Reich lay out specifics of the German air transport organization:

Kampfgeschwader zb V 1
(Special Purpose Bomber Wing 1) [4 Gruppen] The Luftwaffe's dedicated airborne/parachute troop transport unit. 215 Ju-52.

Kampfgruppen zb V 101, 102, 103, 104, 106, 107

(Special Purpose Bomber groups) Ad hoc units representing the temporary concentration of aircraft drawn from Luftwaffe pilot and navigational training establishments, plus the aircraft of Lufthansa. 293 Ju-52.

Kampfgruppen zb V 105

33 Ju-52, 5 Ju-90, 2 BV-142, 2 Fw-200, and 1 Junkers G-38

Kampfgruppen zb V 108

(Seaplanes) 22 He-59, 2 Do-24, 2 Bv-138, 2 Ha-139, and approx. 5 Ju-52 (Floatplanes)

Overall there should be some 33 Ju-52 squadrons in the game. As it is, there are only 21 squadrons provided. Given the recommended cut in range, it is absolutely essential for game balance that the missing 12 Ju-52s be brought into play. 30 are available on turn #1 with the remaining 3 arriving on turn #2.

At the end of April the bulk of the transports were withdrawn from Norway to prepare for the airborne invasion of Holland that began on 10 May. Only KG zb V 107 remained to support the continuing operations in Norway. Thus all but 4 counters worth of Ju-52s (including all blue Ju-52s) are withdrawn from play on turn #6, at the same time as the paratroops. Six blue-colored Ju-52s return as reinforcements on turn #12. If any of the 4 Ju-52s left behind are destroyed, the German player can make up the losses by drawing from those that withdrew (i.e., the German will always have 4 Ju-52s).

OPTION

One Ju-52 counter can be replaced by a Ju-90 counter (1T2 0/30) to represent the long-range transports of KG zb V 105. The Ju-90 counter is available on turn #1.

In Narvik, only the 3 blue colored Ju-52 squadrons (equivalent to 1 group) can drop paratroops. However as the organization above illustrates, all 4 Gruppen of KG zb V 1 were trained in the dropping of parachutists and all were present. Therefore 9 of the 12 new Ju-52 counters added to the counter-mix should be of the blue-colored variety. To reflect the fact that KG zb V 1 was the Luftwaffe's only formation trained in the airborne role, each blue-colored Ju-52 should cost 2 victory points if they are lost, rather than the usual 1.

Finally, as the orders of battle given above demonstrate, the German seaplane transport force(KG zb V 108) consisted primarily of He-59s, not He-115s. The three He-115 Staffeln of Ku F1 Gr 106 and 506 were used almost exclusively in the naval reconnaissance role, flying out of Bergen and Trondheim. Therefore, these aircraft should be left out of the game for the same reasons as the He-111s which were committed against the British Fleet. There should be three He-59 counters, each a 1T2 0/F/15. Eliminate the Ju-52 counter, since these aircraft are assimilated with the He-59s(which had very similar performance).

OPTION

One He-59 counter can be replaced by a Do-24 counter (1T2 0/F/35) to represent the long-range seaplane transports of KG zb V 108. The Do-24 is available on turn #1.

Narvik Errata, Addenda, and Rambling Commentary

Introduction
Part I
Part II