Report

On Thursday, July 7th the above Europa players set up what may have been the first ever non-playtest game of the long-awaited Second Front. Winston Hamilton generously allowed us the use of a game, which meant none of the players had to take the risk of losing pieces from their own set. Punching out the counters and figuring out the Axis garrison requirements took up most of the afternoon, while the Allied players spent the evening planning their first turn. Their original plan was to boldly invade the northwest corner of Italy around Genova and take the quick route to the Alps.

This plan was dropped when the meaning of Rule 34F was made clear: the Allied landing force could be expected to sustain about 30% losses before they hit the beaches, due to the effects of the Allied "danger zone." Landing craft are just about the only thing the Allies don't have lots of, and losing a few LCs could seriously delay the Allied offensive. Part of the confusion was due to the wording of this rule: is the Allied danger zone a problem for the Allies or the Axis? A better wording might have been "antiAllied danger zone."

The Axis side also had some problems: never, ever base any air units within range of Spitfires, no matter how much flak you have! Since the Allied air units in Africa have their ranges calculated as if they could all be based in the tip of Tunisia, this means that most of Sicily has to be abandoned to the Allied fighters.

The new Allied plan was to invade Sardinia by sea and air, capturing Cagliari and moving north. The Axis couldn't see the point of attempting to stop this, and in any case were quite relieved that the Allies had gone to Sardinia instead of Sicily. Our plan was to delay the Allied advance while evacuating the most useful units from Sardinia and Corsica to the mainland. Priority was also given to building forts south of Rome.

Second Front: First Battlefield Report Origins/Europafest 1994

Introduction
July and August 1944
September and October 1944
A Word about Danger Zones