My own playtesting and gaming experience along with some complaints voiced by players in several forums led me to prepare some variants to improve the gaming experience of Operation Michael. Be warned I've only played with them a couple of times and they are not fully playtested; their combined effect can be devastating to preconceived ideas of German play/superiority and can substantially change the game. I hope you enjoy them.

Putting Some Order into the Chaos Theory

Operation Michael's tank breakdown rule is the perfect example of "design for effect": a rule which, regardless of the fidelity (usually little or nil) of its mechanisms to those of the real event, has an effect on the game similar to that produced by the real event. The game correctly portrays the extreme fragility of the first tank units by the random roll of one die and the arbitrary allocation of breakdowns by both players. It sounds odd-but it works.

Nevertheless, I can understand some players being uncomfortable with such a mechanism. The simplicity and overall correctness of the rule is achieved through complete chaos in the way you arrive at the final result. Fortune-challenged players will complain Allied tanks never break down, or that they always break down; "mechanistics" (those caring for mechanisms' historical accuracy) will complain that under this rule tanks break down because of their placement, not because of wear and tear, etc. And while being wrong, they are also right. "Design for effect" is just a different approach to simulation; depending on your point of view you'll fully agree with the game designer or with the critics.

Fortunately enough, we have variant articles to solve the problem. A "mechanistic" variant rule should satisfy those who prefer historical mechanisms over "effect rules." Delete rule 2.Ic and use the following instead:

2.1c Tank units participating in an attack, moving during the Exploitation Phase, or found out of supply during the Supply Phase automatically break down.

This rule will surely result in a higher number of breakdowns so a more generous repair rule is needed. Add the following:

2.1f Broken down tank units which remain static during the friendly Movement Phase are repaired at the end of this phase if in supply and not in an EZOC.

Current rule 2.1f was added as the German needed to know where Allied tanks were to allocate breakdowns. With this variant the rule is no longer necessary. Nevertheless, I am inclined to keep the rule as I think those mammoths were not easy to hide from air recon, not to mention the "dust effect" of their movement in such a desolate landscape. So renumber current 2.1f as the new 2.1g.

"I Want My Steel Back!" Says the German Player

Two small German tank units were used during the first day of the offensive. They were the "SturmPanzerkraftwagen-Abteilung 1" (1st Assault Tank Section), formed by five German A7Vs, and the "SturmPanzerkraftwagen-Abteilung 11 (Beute)" (11th Assault Captured Tank Section), formed with five ex-British tanks, mainly Mark IVs. Both units were used along in the 21 March attacks around St. Quentin with the mission of overcoming any enemy resistance, specifically resistance from prepared positions. Some of the tanks didn't even reach the front line due to mechanical problems, but those which did managed to obtain an important tactical surprise, helping to breach the Allied line and causing the surrender of a high number of prisoners. The next combat appearance of German tanks would not take place until 24 April (beyond the scope of the game) near Villeurs-Bretonneux.

The almost anecdotal performance of German tanks prevented the units from appearing in Operation Michael. Here's this variant for the sake of historical detail:

3.3 German Tanks

3.3a The German tank unit is set up with any German division belonging to 3rd or 9th Corps.

3.3b German units that participate in the same attack as the German tank unit have their Attack Strength doubled. The units need not be stacked with the tank unit to receive this benefit.

3.3c The German tank unit cannot be used to absorb combat losses and is withdrawn from the game at the end of the first turn's German Combat Phase.

Stemming the Tide

One of the main concerns people have about Operation Michael is the perceived Superman-like ability of Sturmblocks to move, overrun, penetrate, and create havoc in the enemy backfield; you should have seen my playtest games when Sturmblocks paid no cost to enter EZOCs! A +1 MP penalty to enter EZOCs was added to limit the Sturmblocks' ability. Nevertheless, as someone says (hey, Steve!), Sturmblocks are still like panzer divisions twenty years in advance; I tend to agree. Sturmblocks must have advantages, but not that much. I'd suggest this variant to help stem the tide: 

Change the last sentence of rule 3.1 to say: Sturmblocks may conduct Overrun attacks at the cost of 1 MP.

Add the following sentence at the end of rule 3.1c: Out of Supply Sturmblocks lose their exploitation movement capability.

This should reduce the Sturmblock super powers to an acceptable degree.

Good Men Also Die

It has been explained (see the Designer's notes) that the Sturmblocks not only represent the specialized stosstruppen used by the Germans but also the whole set of items and conditions that gave the German Army an increased power of penetration through enemy lines. This power remains constant throughout the game as long as the German player has divisions capable of breaking down. I think the accumulated effect of losses in specialized units, fatigue, spent material, and loss of tactical surprise justify a gradual, almost imperceptible, but eventually damaging decrease in the Sturmblock ability of the German Army. This variant intends to show it:

3. If At the end of each Recombination Phase randomly withdraw one of the Sturmblocks in the Sturmblock pool. If all surviving Sturmblocks are on the map the German player selects which one will be lost.

Hint: Never leave your Sturmblock pool completely dry or you'll suffer a net strength loss in addition to that of reduced break down ability. You'd better recombine at least one division. With this rule more than 40% of original Sturmblocks will have been inadvertently withdrawn by the end of the game. That hurts!

More Wood... and Faster!

When I playtested this game I took care to check the orders of battle as deeply as I could, so I can say they are fairly accurate. Nevertheless I took no time to check the coherence between date of arrival and placement of reinforcements-my fault, but I had to spend some time actually testing the game. In fact I think the game has a black hole here since, while it correctly shows the date of arrival of reinforcing units to the operations area, those units are unable to reach the real front line until a few turns later, far later than their historical counterparts did. The explanation is easy; while reinforcements were sent by rail as near as possible to the front line and could reach the front just a few hours after disembarking, this is not the case in the game as they have a long march of 3-5 turns before they first see the enemy. The absence of rails in Operation Michael throws off the reinforcement schedule completely. Fortunately enough, solution is quite easy:

2.2 Commonwealth Reinforcements

2.2a Allied non-French reinforcing units may spend up to 4 times their Movement Allowance in the Movement Phase of the turn they enter play. Their movement is finished when they have expended all of these movement points or as soon as they enter a hex three hexes away from a German unit. This special movement cannot be used beyond the turn reinforcing units enter play.

2.2b French reinforcements have no special movement capability during the turn they enter play.

The Knights of the Air Have Their Say

Even though the air forces of the day were not the lethal weapon they would become some twenty years later and their ground support capability was reduced, there's evidence that the intensive efforts of Allied air units to interdict roads helped substantially in the fight to slow the German onslaught. The following variant portrays this:

2.3 Air power

2.3a The Allied player can use up to three air points each turn. Air points can be placed in any hex during the Allied Clean-Up Phase and are removed during the Allied Replacement Phase.

2.3b Roads in any hex with or adjacent to an Allied Air Point are negated by air interdiction and German units moving through it must pay the full non-road cost of the hex. Overlapping interdiction zones have no additional effect.