Anyone who has spent a lot of time playing the various Balkan Front scenarios will realize that the victory point conditions bear little relation to reality in many cases. It is very easy for the Allies, for example, to rake in many victory points for killing useless Italian infantry divisions-yet, how useful is such a strategy if it weakens the Greeks through exchanges to the point where the Italians (with minor German aid) are able to march into Athenai in April 1941? Is this an Allied victory?

This situation results in an Allied victory according to the game's current victory conditions. However, most people would agree that such an outcome constitutes an Axis victory of some sort, since a lack of German intervention in the Balkans might equate to an extra month of summer campaigning in the Soviet Union. Accordingly, Jason Long and myself decided to playtest the various scenarios and design victory point schedules that in our opinions more closely approximate political reality.

We concentrated mainly on the Italo-Greek War scenario, the Plan G scenario, and the Balkan campaign as a whole. The other scenarios (Plan Y and the Assault on Crete) contain their own quite reasonable victory conditions, although arguably the Plan Y conditions need to be modified in case of early Yugoslav mobilization which makes things more difficult on the poor Italians. Jason played the Axis and I played the Allies during our testing.

Plan G Game 1

Nov I-II 40:

The Greeks detect Italian offensive preparations and mobilize early. The Italian thrust into Greece makes little headway in the face of EX and AS, save on the coast, were Italian motorized troops manage to push a couple of hexes into Greece. Greek counterattacks smash most of the Italian infantry in the mountains at a heavy price to themselves (lots of EXs). The Greeks seize Koritsa.

Dec I 41 40.

The Italians make minor advances on the coast as their Albanian left wing crumbles before a savage Greek counteroffensive. They are forced to call for German aid consisting of two Gebirgsjager divisions and some Luftwaffe forces. Before the Germans arrive at the front, Greek forces push two hexes deep into Albania.

Jan I-II 41:

The Axis finally manage to stabilize the front. As winter sets in the front stalemates. The Greeks withdraw from Albania in order to shorten their lines.

Feb I 41 41:

Additional Axis reinforcements allow the Axis to concentrate their mountain troops along the coast and slowly extend the length of the front southwards. A Greek attack on Italian motorized troops at 4:1 (-2) fails.

Mar I 41 41:

A Greek attack on Italian motorized troops on the coast fails spectacularly with an AH- three Greek divisions are cadred and some non-divisionals are killed as well. The large hole in the Greek lines finally gives the Axis an opportunity to break the Greeks. The Greeks, on the other hand, are forced to economize and weaken their lines substantially.

Apr I-II 41:

Axis attacks grind the Greeks down as the Greek army begins to evaporate. The Greeks attempt to withdraw their forces towards Athenai, but the withdrawal is dogged by Italian ZOCs and becomes a rout.

May I-II 41:

The Axis debouch from the mountains into central Greece as clear weather doubles the power of Axis close air support. Germany does not intervene. The Commonwealth, noting the state of affairs on the Greek front, decides to keep all its forces earmarked for Greece in North Africa.

June I 41 41:

Axis troops sweep past weak Greek resistance and close in on Athenai. The Allies, seeing that a fight in Athenai would be possible only by exposing Commonwealth troops, withdraw the Greek government as well as some Greek forces to Crete, and call the game on June 11.

Commentary:

In retrospect, my 3:1 (-3) attack on the Italian motorized corps was a foolish and greedy one. After that fiasco the Allies were at the mercy of the Axis. Without that single blunder, Greek resistance would have been far stronger. According to the game victory conditions, however, the Allies won a decisive victory, simply because the number of dead Axis units along with the cost of German aid greatly outnumbered Axis VPs.

However, consider that a solely Italian victory against the Greeks (admittedly with some minor German aid) in June 1941 that did not affect the Barbarossa timetable in any way does not smack of an Allied victory. The victory point schedule in the game rewards the Greeks for making foolish attacks without penalizing them for their losses. In fact, why should victory points be gained by the Allies for killing worthless 3-4-6 Italian infantry divisions when the Italians gain nothing for killing 5-6 Greek mountain troops?

On the other side of the ledger, shouldn't the Allies be rewarded in some fashion for not deploying Commonwealth troops into Greece? This would affect the war in North Africa dramatically. Perhaps the best way to resolve this is to play Western Desert in conjunction with Balkan Front, which would make for a very exciting game. But if BF is to be played on its own, the VP schedule should take into account such issues as Commonwealth non-intervention.

Plan G Game 2

Nov I-II 40:

The Italians successfully deploy into Albania without arousing Greek suspicion. Small Greek forces on the Albanian border are smashed in a spaghetti blitzkrieg. At this point, the Italians were well into Greek territory, and I concluded that it would be very difficult indeed to hold on to the mountains, much less drive into Albania. Discretion being the better part of valor, I conduct a withdrawal towards Thessalonike and Thermopylae.

Dec I-II 40.

Jason gleefully runs into the sudden vacuum in central Greece created by the Greek withdrawal. However, Allied rearguards in the mountains successfully cover the withdrawal, and the larger portion of the Greek army runs away as the Italians roll AS against Greek rabble in the mountains.

Jan I-II 41:

Central Greece falls entirely under Axis domination. Italian forces sputter to a spectacular halt just short of the new Greek defensive positions in Thessalonike and Thermopylae due to logistical problems. Italian supply from Albanian ports simply doesn't reach far enough into Greece.

Feb I-II 41:

The disgruntled Axis player calls for a little help from his friends-the backstabbing Bulgarians enter on the Axis side, along with a German infantry corps and a Gebirgsjager corps, as well as some Luftwaffe aid. The Germans penetrate the Metaxas Line before the Greeks shift enough forces to man the line sufficiently.

March I-II 41:

An infusion of Greek forces into Macedonia arrives too late to prevent the Axis from pushing the Greeks back into a perimeter around Thessalonike. Italian forces in Macedonia make contact with the Germano-Bulgar forces and can now trace supply through Bulgaria. The Greeks begin to execute a mini- Dunkirk, and withdraw most of their forces back down towards Athenai.

April I-II 41:

Thessalonike falls. Massive Greek forces in Thermopylae prevent an Axis advance until the Germans can redeploy south. Italian motorized forces cross the straits into the western section of the Peloponnesian Peninsula after blasting through minor Greek forces. German intervention is not called for. Commonwealth troops arrive in Athenai.

May-September 41:

Stalemate. Axis forces bounce back and forth on the Thermopylae line. Italian mountain troops bloody themselves into a nub in mountain exchanges. The Axis, growing increasingly desperate, advance a German force into the center hex of the three hex line. Commonwealth and Greek forces counterattack and force a DR through ZOC-three German artillery regiments are destroyed and a Gebirgsjager division is cadred. The Axis briefly appear to have completely shot their bolt. But a manly (i. e., desperate) 2.66:1 rounded up to a 3:1 (-2) attack (Jason and I play with percentile rounding, e.g., 15 to 6 is 2 to 1 with a 50% chance of going up one odds column) across the one hex river line just west of Athenai backed by the entire Axis air force succeeds with an HX, destroying the reserve Greek mobile corps and the British armored brigade, and the damned Italians march through my rear with motorized troops.

As a result, Allied troops in the Thermopylae line are forced to withdraw into Athenai and the area around it. The game truly stalemates at this point, however, since Axis supply lines cannot extend all the way down to Athenai. The Germans, refusing to stop so close to victory, press the issue with Yugoslavia in order to obtain a rail line capable of supplying an Axis thrust into Athenai. Unfortunately (for Jason), the Yugoslavs thumb their noses at Hitler and become pro-Allied neutrals, daring Adolf to cough up a Panzer corps from Russia to do something about it. The game is called on Sept I.

Commentary.

The outstanding feature represented in this game was supply. Axis supply lines into Greece are quite poor. The combat around Thessalonike occurred simply because the Axis needed the rail lines running past Thessalonike. Even the Bulgarian rail lines give only limited help-they do not extend all the way to Athenai since they are low-volume rail lines.

Consequently, the Greeks can stop the Axis cold simply by withdrawing from the mountains on the Albanian border into Thermopylae and defending this line with large forces, along with sufficient forces to hold on to Macedonia. The Axis is virtually forced to ask for Yugoslav support, or German intervention if Beograd balks.

Militarily this makes sense, but politically the Greeks shouldn't be able to withdraw from over one third of their nation without some penalty. In order to recreate some sort of historical outcome, the victory conditions must be revised to give the Greeks an incentive to defend their territory. This is even more true in a regular Balkan Campaign game since the phased Greek withdrawal is easier to conduct against the weaker Italian forces in Albania.

Then come the Yugoslavs. The presence of a pro-allied neutral Yugoslavia in September 1941 is precisely the sort of Balkan nightmare Hitler wished to avoid. Such a politico-military state of affairs would be a quandary for the Axis, and should be treated as such. This is balanced to a degree by the presence of Commonwealth troops in the Balkans in autumn 1941, something sure to weaken North Africa. The Australians, for example, were historically in Tobruk by September 1941-in this game they (along with the New Zealanders) were eating feta cheese at the Parthenon at this time. As an aside, it would be interesting to see what sort of scratch force the Germans could have cobbled up in September 1941 to subdue the unruly Yugoslavs.

Italo-Greek War Scenario and Balkan Campaign Game

Note: This is actually just the Balkan Campaign game, but the time period falling within the Italo-Greek War scenario will be examined separately for purposes of victory point analysis.

Nov I 40 - March II 41:

This is a rather cautious game on both sides. The Italians advance slowly, calling the usual Gebirgsjager corps in as aid. The Greeks, for their part, begin building the Thermopylae line and deploy all new forces there (since troops sent against the Italians tend to never become available for other areas.) Little combat ensues and virtually no casualties are taken by either side. Due to Greek refusal to send all forces into the mountains, Axis forces slowly lever out the Greeks along the coast. The Greeks shrug, and refuse their southern flank, letting logistics guard the flank for them. As a result, Axis troops begin piling up behind the main front, unable to deploy due to limitations in frontage resulting from supply difficulties.

April I-II 41:

The pro-Allied Yugoslavs are quickly smashed by the Teutonic hordes in a 4:1 (-1) attack on Beograd with no losses to the Wehrmacht. German forces in Bulgaria quickly rout the Metaxas Line garrison and catch some Greek forces in the midst of a withdrawal to the Thermopylae line. An entire Greek corps (three divisions, three non-divisionals and some artillery) does manage to reach the line before the Panzers get to them, however.

May I 41:

The large bulk of Wehrmacht forces withdraws, save for airborne, mountain, engineer, and artillery formations, as well as strong Luftwaffe support. Greek forces abandon the Thermopylae line as indefensible given Axis air power (even after withdraws!), and run to Athenai and its environs. Various Greek rabble, out of supply, manage to HX against a motorized division and a 2-10 flak regiment on a 1:2! The Wehrmacht officers responsible are taken out to be interrogated by the Men in Black for lack of proper National Socialist ardor... British aid is called for to defend Crete, and the Australians and New Zealanders set up camp, thus discouraging the Nazi Sky Gangsters (i.e., 7th Fliegerdivision) from seizing Crete. Rearguards in the mountains north of Athenai delay the Axis for one turn, but lack of forces prevents the Greeks from delaying them any further despite territorial opportunities to do so.

May II 41:

German paratroopers successfully drop southeast of Athenai in order to lever Greek forces from the hex northeast of Athenai. That same hex is attacked unsuccessfully. German forces attack Athenai on a one hex front with the might of almost all the combined Italo-German air forces behind them at 4:1 (-1) (including engineers), and DR the Greek defenders. Athenai falls and the Germans capture the Greek government. Crete still looks strong, however, and Jason calls the game at this point, deciding that his major objectives have been achieved and that risking German paratroops to a bloodbath in Crete is unnecessary.

Commentary.

This was a fairly ordinary game with no real surprises. It was slightly ahistorical in the sense that the early game was played cautiously by both sides, since we knew that the impending 6erman intervention would change the situation dramatically.

And it did. Despite my best efforts at slowing down the Germans, it simply wasn't possible. I couldn't even get significant losses on the Germans (Jason was lucky against Beograd and Athenai, both 4:1 (-1) attacks-even if they worked, I could have reasonably expected an exchange of some kind!) The withdrawal of their combat/motorized forces on May I simply doesn't hurt the Germans in any real way. The Panzers by then have done their job-the infantry and Luftwaffe can handle the rest. Simply put, between two players of equal ability, the Allies don't have a prayer against the Axis fully backed by German intervention unless poor weather occurs on April I. Otherwise, the best they can hope for is to get exchanges that generate VPs.

I almost didn't call on Commonwealth at all (they cannot change the outcome in Greece against a full German intervention), and only introduced the two divisions to safeguard Crete, which they did quite nicely. I feel that the Allied player should get some reward for not calling in British aid (or limiting such calls for aid). Undoubtedly the Allied troops I did not call would have an enormous effect on the North African campaign.

Conclusions:

Using the above games as a guideline, Jason and I decided to revise the VP schedule for Balkan Frontto reflect certain polictical and military realities. The factors we considered to be critical we re:

• German intervention/force losses
• British intervention/force losses
• Seizure of Greek/Albanian territory
• Length of the Campaign

With regards to force losses, Jason and I both agree that ordinary Italian infantry units and other non-divisional units such as artillery should not count for VP purposes. The Italians will not miss one or two (or perhaps even a half dozen) 3-4-6 divisions. All Commonwealth forces count, given the scarcity of British units and their impact in Africa. Penalties are assessed both for intervention (and German aid, if any) and the loss of applicable units by both sides.

The territorial bonuses are designed to force the Allied player to staunchly defend Greece, and to seize any possible Albanian territory. The latter will not likely occur in the Plan G scenario, given the level of Italian commitment, but can be done in the regular game unless the Axis calls for German aid (which also costs the Axis victory points).

In terms of general strategy, as the game currently stands, the Axis is almost forced to ask for German intervention. The Axis simply cannot take Athenai from a cautious Allied player given their logistical problems unless they possess the Yugoslav rail line, which will not be available without German intervention most of the time (although Jason and I played one game where the perfidious Yugoslavs actually entered the war on the Axis side! Athenai was stormed by a multinational parade corps composed of Bulgarian artillery, Yugoslav siege artillery and engineers, Italian armor, and German Gebirgsjagers. Damned dice ...

Three Modest Proposals

I find the current low-volume rail line rules entirely unsatisfactory. To my mind, the Bulgarian rail line should be able to support a limited drive into Greece, thus giving the Axis a realistic option besides opting for full-fledged German intervention. A better rule would be to limit supply over a low- volume rail line to, say, 30 REs, but to treat the supply length as normal. Your Italo-Bulgar forces will carry the day every time, without German intervention. I invite comments from those more familiar with Balkan logistics to determine what the supply capacity from Bulgaria really should be.

I also believe that air power's capability in mountain terrain is overstated. It has been reported that a rule halving air support in mountains is under consideration. Given air power's limitations in places like Monte Cassino, such a rule should be mandatory. I suspect those of you playtesting Second Front have found Allied air power in Italy more potent than was the case historically.

Allied naval superiority was never in a position to sever the Italian supply line across the Adriatic and consequently its ability to restrict Italian naval supply to Greek ports is vastly overstated. Bearing this in mind, the Axis should be able to draw supply from captured Greek ports on the west coast of Greece, specifically Patrai, Pyrgos and Korinthos. The Axis should be able to use each Greek minor port as a special supply source for one RE, as the supply rules allow the Greeks to do, and should be able to use Greek standard ports as normal supply sources. The Allied naval operations in the Adriatic failed to interdict the Italian supply convoys to Albania, despite actually bombarding Valona on one occasion. The Royal Navy feared the Regia Aeronautica operating from mainland Italy, as well as interception by the Regia Marina from nearby Taranto, and avoided sustained operations in the Adriatic and Ionian seas for these reasons.

As a result, the Royal Navy confined itself primarily to the Aegean. Thus the Regia Marina should be able to run supply convoys to those ports listed above without interference.

In any case, hopefully these revised victory point conditions will result in a more balanced, exciting game that encourages both sides, particularly the Allies, to pursue their objectives in a realistic fashion. As things stand now, the game victory conditions greatly favor the Allies who can win by simply vaporizing a large number of Italian units, or by executing a runaway to the Thermopylae line, both very "gamey" and ahistorical strategies that mar an otherwise excellent simulation of the 1940-41 Balkan conflict.

BALKAN FRONT Victory Point Awards

Axis Territorial Awards:
+1 For very 6 point cities (rounded to nearest whole)
+1 Per reference city
+3 Per dot city
+5 Per full hex city

These apply only to cities on the Greek mainland and are awarded at the end of each Axis player turn until the fall of Athenai or the evacuation of the Greek government.

Greek Territorial Awards:
+2 Per Albanian point city
+5 Per Albanian reference city

These are granted to the Allied player at the end of any turn in which an Albanian city falls. The award can only be granted once per city, even if lost to the Axis and then subsequently recaptured.

Axis Political Awards and Penalties:
+10 If Yugoslavia is Axis allied and no German intervention occurs
+10 If operations cease before Apr I 41
-13 Per turn if operations continue after Jun I 41
-5 If Crete is Allied owned at end of game
-30 If Athenai is Allied owned at end of game
+20 If Germany does not intervene
+3 If the Axis captures the Greek Government

Penalties for Losses and Assistance (calculated against owning side):
-1 Per German non c/m RE
-3 Per German c/m RE
-2 Per German air unit
-2 Per Italian c/m RE
-2 Per Italian air unit
-2 Per Greek c/m RE
-1 Per Commonwealth non c/m RE
-5 Per Commonwealth c/m RE
-2 Per Commonwealth air unit

Note that divisions that have been cadred usually count as two REs lost, except for German motorized divisions, which only count as one RE lost when cadred. Italian losses are immediately assessed when taken, and remain in place even if the losses are replaced (in fact, the Italians could suffer VP losses several times for the same unit should a replaced or rebuilt unit suffer subsequent losses.)

Victory Level
55+Axis Miracle Victory
48-54:Axis Strategic
42-47:Axis Operational
35-41:Axis Marginal
28-34: Draw
22-27:Allied Marginal
16-21: Allied Operational
10-15: Allied Strategic
0-9: Allied Miracle Victory