NATO, WAPA and the indefensibility of LandJut in NGP and D85

[JDR Dragoon]

The second playtest of scenario variant 1 is finished.

I played NATO again and scored another Major Victory, but this time the margun of victory was much less than last time due to more aggressive and competent WAPA play. The WAP player was close to getting a only getting a "Minor Defeat" for a time, but I managed to push the points down. Unlike last playtest the WAPA player did end up with a positive point score this time

This time 6th PzG. was mauled much more, losing several units early on due to me trying out a different and more aggressive tactic by trying to hold the NVA 5th Army longer at the Elbe-Lübeck Canal (w. mixed succes: I did hold them longer, but I´m not sure the sacrifice was worth it). Just as last time the remnants gradually withdrew up the peninsula. The polish and soviet marine units formed a common bridgehead just south of Eckernförde where they were met head-on by the Jutland Division, which failed to eradicate the bridgehead but did manage to contain it. Meanwhile the Jutland Divisions recon battalion and the Jutland Battlegroup was busy hounding down the polish paratroopers who had landed near the Eider river and Kieler Canal to the west of the peninsula. The net effect of these landings and NATOs failure to eradicate the amphibious units (the polish paras were eradicated to a man!) meant that the defensive line along the Kieler canal had already been unhinged in the east. To compound this, I failed to coordinate the withdrawal of 6th PzG. with the engineer units present (due to me being distracted by "real life": I also managed to forget to move my Deception units in one of the Dawn Turns and so on) so that WAPA also captured intact crossings to the west. WAPA was quickly running out of Supply to spend, and the arrival of the UK Infantry Brigade meant that 6th PzG could get some much needed breathing space. With the Kieler Canal defence line compromised, the next line was set up along the Eieder river and swamps to the west and the Schlei inlet to the east. This left only a small belt of land in the middle of the peninsula bereft of any natural cover or obstacles. On top of this most of the WAPA units had gravitated towards the west of the peninsula, where they were stuck when I blew up the crossings over the Eider river. There were not enough time left for them to bridge the river, and there were not enough WAPA troops left elsewhere to achieve the required odds for a breakthrough. The game then ended.

Some general observations:

-WAPA really needs to get full use out of every supply point. Every point lost or wasted is a step closer to WAPAs attack slowing down and NATO winning. It is therefore paramount that the WAPA player does his best to conserve his supply. Units should therefore always be within command range of their parent HQ in order for them to pass supply checks easier. The WAPA player should also think long and hard about which units to resupply. For instance it is better to lavish supply on a B quality NVA panzer division w. T72s than on a D quality polish Mech Division w. T55s.

-WAPA should also try to press the NATO defense everywhere since he has the troops for it. Overconcentrating on one part of the NATO line might backfire, since the troops might get stuck on the wrong side of a water obstacle or they might be stacked so tightly that they only get in the way of each other.

-Another tactic WAPA should follow is to press the weaker NATO units such as the Jutland Division. Pushing the danes to breaking point might lead to big dividends in the form of a breakthrough.

-The Jutland peninsula is generally very flat and open and thus good tank country favoring the attacker There are very few obstacles on which to anchor a defensive line. There are a few though: The lines along the Elbe-Lübeck and Kieler Canal are generally easy for WAPA to compromise, by landing amphibiously behind them, but further to the north the peninsula narrows considerably. Namely at Schleswig and a bit further to the north at Flensburg near the border. These areas are natural points for NATO to defend along. On top of this, the western side of the peninsula is generally very hard to advance along due to it being crisscrossed with dikes, swamps and marsh (much of the area is close to the water table and prone to seasonal flooding). Good NATO play should take advantage of these facts.

-NATO was generally were lucky in being able to discover and neutralize WAPA Deception units relatively early in the game. If they had failed to do this the withdrawal up the peninsula might have been much harder. As it was, some NATO units still ended up being "Disrupted" while in Travel mode and had to abandoned to the WAPA horde

-It might also be possible that the scenario has become too tough for WAPA. In that case, re-balancing measures will probably include adding more Supply and perhaps adding another spell of daylight (4 turns) to the scenario. I shall playtest it one last time with me as WAPA to see if any more balancing is needed. Otherwise it should be Good-To-Go :)