John Best’s comparison of Dunnigan’s France, 1940 (which I have) to Ty Bomba’s Blitzkrieg 1940 (which I have never seen) was fascinating. While I have no bones to pick with his analysis of France, 1940, out of fairness to the game I’d like to venture a few clarifications based on a familiarity with it.

First of all, I suspect the copy he found on eBay for $4.49 was missing the separate folder of special rules and set up for the “Idiot’s Game.” This is the historical campaign he thought was omitted. Dunnigan treated it separately because he felt it was not a game, given the fact no sane Allied player would emulate his historical counterparts.

For me, the “Idiot’s Game” was always a thing of beauty that I enjoyed showing to friends. The Allied Player’s restrictions last only two turns. There after he’s free to do as he pleases -- but try as he might, he will be unable to avoid his historical fate (usually including a Dunkirk evacuation).

This is the best visual demonstration of what happened and why that I’ve found. It is quick and spectacular, and I still have opportunity to astonish a non-gamer historical buff with it from time to time.

Those sticky Zones of Control (+3 MP to enter, +2 to exit) actually work beautifully once you understand them. The “Idiots Game” requires much of the Allied armies to dash into Belgium in pursuit of the Dyle Plan. German infantry Corps in Belgium advance to contact each turn (whether or not they attack).

Thus each turn the Allied units must pay +2 to exit German ZOCs, and have little hope of reacting to the panzer breakout in the Ardennes. The Ardennes breakout dashes quickly to the coast; French reserves in the “Idiot’s Game” must rush to garrison Paris, and are bypassed.

Soon a line of German units and ZOCs runs from the coast to Ardennes, placing all French and British units in the Belgium to Dunkirk area out of supply. And thus begins the German mop-up and British evacuation.

For serious game players, Dunnigan suggests the “Idiot’s Game” be set aside. He offers 11 Allied and six German alternate OOBs (including the historical ones without “Idiot’s Game” restrictions) with an historical rationale for each. These can be mixed and matched as players desire, though obviously not all combinations are good games.

When France, 1940 was first released it looked pretty complex. Today it seems perhaps a little too simple, though the cookie cutter counters never bothered me. What I disliked most was the CRT, which is actually not nearly as difficult as that overwrought rules passage Best quotes would suggest. I suspect the CRT’s counterattack rule was inspired by Avalon Hill’s original Battle of the Bulge, but here it is mandatory and a bit more subtle. But Dunnigan subsequently used this rule to good effect in more popular efforts like Panzer Armee Afrika. If so it is quite playable.

Unfortunately, in France, 1940 it is often little more than a delay-of-game nuisance. The problem is that, since the German does most of the attacking, it’s the Allied player that usually counter attacks. But Allied units in this game have little chance of inflicting a legitimate CA result against Germans. Consequently, German and Allied players sometimes find themselves alternating die rolls until the German succeeds in rolling a non-CA result. This is especially aggravating solitaire.

Die roll additions/subtractions are also simplistic. Defensive terrain (river or forest) adds “2” (but never more) to a roll, while an air unit participating in an attack subtracts “2”. Rules say no more than “2” can be added or subtracted so air units merely cancel defensive terrain if it is present, which I felt a little too pat. Of course, clear terrain is another matter -- and there are a total of six types of air missions (if you count moving the base unit as a mission).

There is also a fair amount of game dirt. For example, the design is essentially at Corps level (Corps rules being similar to his 1914), but armored units are treated on division level. There is a good explanation for this in the excellent designer’s notes, but for me the complexity of this inconsistency is above the level of the rest of the game. Personally, for whatever the reason, I’ve never much used France, 1940 as a game player’s game. It’s certainly serviceable, but for some reason when face-to-face there always seemed to be something else we wanted to play instead.

Still I’ve spent many fascinating hours with France, 1940 over the years, and can highly recommend it to any historically minded gamer, primarily for the amazing “Idiot’s Game” and those 17 thought-provoking alternative OOBs.

The bonus is an impressive amount of history and plausible historical alternatives to explore, all in one compact box, played on a mounted board in 10 game turns, using a clean and only moderately complex system.

I also happen to own GMT’s version of this campaign by David James Ritchie; quite lovely to see, and possibly the only wargame ever published with three separate titles on the box: Victory in the West, Plan Yellow, and The French Campaign,1940. It’s also the only game I’ve seen with refugee units; these were a critical element in the campaign, as they congested the roads and smothered the Allies’ freedom of maneuver (I’ve been told German air deliberately terrorized civilians to aggravate the congestion; this is unforgettably depicted in the opening sequence of the French film classic, Forbidden Games). Unfortunately I’ve never had an opportunity to play Ritchie’s game; it’s on my wish list but looks fairly ambitious, requiring a fair amount of space where it will be undisturbed for a few days. Also I notice that Ritchie focuses primarily on what is in effect a more lavish version of Dunnigan’s “Idiot’s Game”. Does Bomba do the same? Dunnigan’s remarks not withstanding, they seem to have made a game-player’s game of it. But when the 1940 itch needs to be scratched, seems like I pull out Ritchie with the best of intentions, then ponder all those rules and counters, and (what the heck) just run Dunnigan’s old “Idiot’s Game” instead.

France 1940 Idiot's Game Insert