Vae Victis has published a number of games where inappropriate systems (for example kill rates compared to time) have been applied to exciting topics. In this game they do (almost) the opposite, but of course a Stosstruppen attack in World War One against the French is as likely to be interesting as one against the British or Imperial troops. The attack covered was one of those against the Compiegne Front launched by Ludendorf during his hither and thither attacking phase. A number of French corps is strung across the map with (usually) two divisions in the line and two back.
The Germans have a large number of storm divisions and sufficient numbers for at least 3:1 assaults. As the offensive develops the Germans can release Army reserves but will face French strategic reserves moving up in the shape of Mangin and his reserve. As with all games my capacity for mistaking rules is considerable, but in this case since I am translating the rules at the same time be aware that what follows may be incorrect.
The map is as smart as usual. The area is a busy one. Not all units are in the serious trench systems at the beginning of the battle but there is plenty of other terrain, rivers, heights, woods and villages. Terrain is not only important for the defence (it is cumulative) but vital for the sheer act of slowing down the speed of the German advance and exploitation. You will have to check each hex for several types of terrain as (I believe) that the terrain is cumulative.
The counters are every bit as good as we expect from Vae Victis they resemble small versions of the excellent Revell German and French infantry sets. The artillery pieces are well drawn and can easily be spotted. The worst counters are, paradoxically, the prettiest – the air units clutter up the map flying from mega-hex (seven hex circle) to mega-hex forever getting lost with the ground troops. As you would expect with Vae Victis small things are remembered, so Mangin's colonial troops are in khaki not horizon-blue.
So the atmosphere is good, but what of the rules? They are shorter than usual and pretty clean and "traditional". The CRT is odds based with column shifts and dice modifiers. The sequence is (essentially) Move - Bombard - Combat - Exploitation Move - Exploitation Combat. Nothing hard there, you need to be in command or Stosstruppen to exploit (and I believe the amendments require you actually to move – which can make a retreat useful, and you never advance after combat). What slightly jiggers things is the air game but more of this below.
Combat uses a variety of results but common ones are defender retreats with an attacker loss. These together with the occasional massed artillery shoot by the French mean that while French divisions get crushed en masse the German units suffer step by step attrition until such time as the French can mount heavy counter-attacks. Artillery (and air units) can barrage within range (in that mega-hex for the planes) but this results (mostly) in "neutralisations" (which give dice disadvantages). As neutralisations are removed at the end of each player's turn clearly these are most useful to attackers. As a result the defender's main use of artillery in his own turn is massed barrages at high values aiming for step damage. This seems very odd indeed. All artillery may bombard or fire support missions in one player's turn and recover in the next player turn.
Movement factors are usually four for infantry and three for artillery. This does not give a lot of room move where terrain costs are cumulative and one hex can have a stream to cross and trenches to enter. Artillery pays more for certain terrain and you are going to have to use your roads in certain areas. However, since units that are not in enemy ZOCs can strategic move at double-speed the artillery usually can keep up with infantry that is in contact.
The exploitation phase is useful to get that extra round of combat, but you must actually have moved to do so. This means that you will often not follow up victories. As exploitation movement is halved we have not quite reached the age of the armoured breakthrough. Indeed the game is very good at simulating the creeping advance after victories. Reserves usually have the time to move up strategically stopping one hex away from the advancing Germans. HQs cannot use exploitation so that it is possible for advances to outrun the logistic base.
The importance of artillery support is emphasised by a support declaration rule that requires you to declare support without counting it up. The concept is designed to stop you from making exact calculations. Unless you write it all down though I reckon most gamers will get pretty close to the final odds. In addition there is an interesting rounding rule for 3:2 which gives the attacker relief from the rigid "round up" rule.
Each turn both sides receive air units (squadron size) of bombers and fighters illustrated in wondrous colour. They receive these in a random mix based on 2d6 (+2 for the French and –2 for the Germans). The French player places his interception units on the map (they can intervene up to two mega-hexes from their current station). The German then moves on his stacks of bombers (with escort) and ground-support aircraft. The French may intercept and try to survive the escort fires before attacking the bombers. Losses are not permanent the unit is simply removed from play for that turn. The Germans will have the opportunity to put out interceptors for the second player-turn and face French bombers and ground-support. All this is very jolly but also messy as the aircraft vanish into the land units. It's a bit of chrome too far for me, but it may suit you admirably.
In the first two turns the Germans benefit from a column improvement and their Stosstruppen always add a two to the dice. By Turn Three though the column shift is removed as the French get their forces readied and a lot of French tanks arrive at the front giving their own +/- 2 modifier. Although the Germans can mass forces there is a –2 dice modifier for using units of different divisions and I do not believe the advantages are worth the loss. At any stage the French can elect to give one target both divisional, Corps and Army artillery support, eventually an attacking stack of Germans will be wiped out by this tactic, and bit by bit the harder it gets to advance.
La Bataille du Matz has a lot of flavour of the war. Artillery is very important to both sides. The attacker can get the advantages of surprise and numbers, but he has difficult terrain to overcome and annoying artillery patterns to resist. Movement is painfully slow. My suspicion is that the German is not often going to succeed, but this may be simply a result of poor play on my part. The German player certainly needs to play well if he is to get to the victory towns, or even simulate history. I have not yet managed this.
The rules are short, the counters smart and (the aircraft aside) the system smooth flowing. The presence of French units instead of the usual British or American formations gives the game great flavour. This is the sort of game Command used to publish before it got lost in alt.hist or future.hist. Is it balanced, it is unlikely the game has had the necessary testing to make it so? However, I reckon you can fiddle it to give the right result. Merely extend by a turn or so the column advantage for les Boches but be prepared for balance checking. Good solid design work.
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© Copyright 1999 by Charles and Teresa Vasey.
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