In general, I am a rules-as-written player. Occasionally I will dabble with rules variations, but only if I believe that they may someday become standard Europa rules. In that vein, I am particularly interested in playing "non-standard" Europa games using standard Europa rules. If Grand Europa is to become a reality, every campaign must be playable at the Grand Europa scale using standard rules. Failure to achieve this goal compromises Grand Europa at the core.

No Europa game is more non-standard than Narvik. Weserubung attempts to show that even this campaign can fit into the overall Europa mold. My goal was to use exclusively standard Europa rules. Unfortunately, there is no definitive set of rules that can be called "standard", so my first task was to decide what constitutes standard Europa. Scorched Earth and Balkan Front most nearly approach state-of-the-art Europa. Since Scorched Earth is too complex, I chose Balkan Front as the core rule set for this scenario.

No standard Europa naval system exists at this time. I considered some form of Supermarina but decided that the complexity of those rules would swamp the ground and air aspects of the scenario. Further, the life expectancy of Supermarina is suspect. In the end, I settled on a system as close to Balkan Front's as possible. I made modifications to include aircraft carriers and to reflect the proximity of the Royal Navy by incorporating a Narvik style Damaged-in-Transit Table.

The government rule started as an expansion of the rule which appears in Balkan Front. The rule took on inertia of its own during playtesting. Maybe its too complex or has strayed too far from "standard" Europa, but government activity in this campaign demanded more detail than the Balkan Front rule allowed. King Christian and the Danish government were captured in Copenhagen on the first day of the invasion and Denmark immediately capitulated. King Haakon and his Norwegian government, on the other hand, narrowly escaped capture in Oslo and managed to elude the Germans for the entire campaign. They ruled from the countryside, attempting to maintain morale and keep the Norwegian Army operational for as long as possible. Ultimately, they escaped to England.

The supply effects rule from Balkan Front is too simplistic. Using that rule allows the Norwegians to evacuate a significant army to the far northern reaches of Norway forming an unsupplied, unsupported, and permanent bastion. I therefore felt compelled to use the Scorched Earth supply effects system.

In keeping with the general Europa trend, victory points reflect historical victory, not player victory. To determine a victorious player, the scenario must be played twice, each player playing each side once. The player with the most accumulated victory points is the winner. A well planned Axis invasion generally leads to a major or decisive victory. Using some of the optional improved response rules can balance victory conditions and/or player skill level. Use of all of these rules swings play balance dramatically in favor of the Allies.

In producing the orders of battle, I attempted to use available Europa components. I tried to balance historical accuracy with counter availability. The Norwegian order of battle was taken directly from the Grand Europa supplement provided in Narvik with modifications based on the articles in ETO #54. I set the Norwegian partial mobilization on the surprise reaction turn and the full mobilization on the normal APR 140 turn. The Danish order of battle is taken from ETO #53. For the most part, the Danes did not resist, although there was scattered fighting in the Jutland. Due to their lack of resistance each unit has only a 50% chance of taking up arms.

I extrapolated the British, French, Polish and German orders of battle from Narvik with modifications based on my sources. The Polish brigade is considered an infantry unit rather than a mountain unit. The mountain designation was more wishful thinking than fact since the brigade had never received appropriate training. The German shipwrecked sailors represent about 2500 men who swam to the Narvik shore after their 10 destroyers were sunk. The German army, having captured Norwegian arms and supplies, outfitted these men as makeshift ground troops. The parachute unit represents the combined German airborne resources in the campaign. Historically, the Germans performed a number of drops at company, not battalion, level. Since Grand Europa is not likely to have company-level breakdown counters, these assets are represented by the single counter.

Weserubung has turned out to be a very playable, single-evening scenario. The Allied side, while strategically challenging, is not taxing from a rules point of view and could provide a good place for Europa newcomers to try their hand.

The Axis, on the other hand, face the very complex task of balancing amphibious and airborne assaults with naval and air supply. They must strike quickly and decisively with as many units as possible while keeping their supply lines open. The Axis surprise turn becomes an Europa puzzle to see how many objectives the Axis player can take before the Norwegians react.

I had a lot of fun putting this scenario together and hope you have fun giving it a try. I would like to express my gratitude to Enda Quigley and Greg Bartels for their hours of effort playtesting these rules. Their inputs were invaluable.

Bibliography

Norway 1940, Franqois Kersaudy, William Collins Sons and Co., Great Britain, 1987
The Bitter Years, The Invasion and Occupation of Denmark and Norway April 1940 - May 1945, Richard Petrow, William Morrow and Co., New York, N.Y., 1974
The Luftwaffe, Alfred Price, Ballantine Books, New York, NY, 1970
Touring the Europa Seashore, A.E. Goodwin, TEM #11, GR/D, Grinnell, IA, 1990
Narvik, Kevin M. Boylan, TEM #16, GR/D, Grinnell, IA, 1990
The British Army Order of Battle: September 1939 to December 1940, James Broshot and David Hughes, TEM #26, GR/D, Grinnell, IA, 1992
Inside Europa, John M. Astell, TEM #27, GR/D, Grinnell, IA, 1992
Danish Order of Battle, A.E. Goodwin, James D. Parmenter, Michael K. Parker and Jason Long, ETO # 53, Santa Rosa, CA, February 1990
Norwegian Order of Battle, A.E. Goodwin, Jason Long, and John Perkins, ETO # 54, Santa Rosa, CA, March 1990

Weserubung: Storm Over Norway Europa Battle Scenario Number 6

Rules
Orders of Battle: Axis and Allies
Charts and Tables
Designer's Notes
Danish Counters