                     Scenario 16.04cxx Design Notes

....This scenario makes the assumption that the German Operational Planners 
had come to the realization that the planned northerly push of the 
1st SS Panzer Corps was likely to be obstructed by the thick terrain and a 
determined US response. Therefore, they changed the plans to add a more 
energetic Southerly push. The II SS Panzer Corps, bolstered by the addition 
of the 10th SS Panzer, would be shifted to AOK 5 and would begin to arrive on 
the 17th in order that it might make an early drive on Bastogne and the Meuse. 
In addition,  KG v.d. Heydte is bolstered by an additional battalion and their 
is a choice of seven different drop plans.  In order that the Our River crossings
may be secured by the evening of the 16th, four battalions of King Tigers have been 
brought up to support the initial assault on the US 106th and 28th Infantry 
Divisions. Everything rests on a early breakthrough.This scenario has reinforcement
strategy options for both sides, and German Company breakdown. Including Supply unit breakdown for both sides.  (Scenario based on Maximum effort scenario with additional Allied units.).....

    The reason I created this scenario modification was to give the German player a
better chance at acheiving a major breakthrough while not destroying the flavor of the battle. My intent isn't to rebalance the battle so, that with every thing equal, the Germans are likely to win. But rather to tweak a scenario enough to give the German player a better chance of winning but not so much that the historical dynamic of the battle is lost. Of course that dynamic is the fact that the Germans caught the Allies of guard, overwhelmed them during the first third of the Battle, and then was in turn overwhelmed in the last half of the battle by the Allies as massive reinforcements poured into the battle. With this all in mind, I made these modifications to scenaro 16.04 (Maximum effort with additional Allied forces).

1. As described above, The German oob is modified to shift forces to AOK 5 and have them arrive earlier. The II SS Panzer Corps (2nd SS Panzer, 9th SS Panzer and 10th SS Panzer) arrive at roughly the same time that the OKW reserves would normaly arrive. The 11th Panzer (still in the OKW) arrives later, roughly when units of the II SS Panzer Corps would arrive. Also, because the 10th SS Panzer has no artillery attached to it in the historical oob, The artillery battalion assigned to the 11th Panzer has been transfered to the 10th SS Panzer. These changes give the Germans a reserve of three fully equiped SS Panzer Divisions in position to exploit the weakest point of the Allied lines.

2. Maybe the most exciting change to 16.04 is the changes to the v.d. Heydte paratroop drop. Originaly, I had shifted the drop zone to the South to support AOK 5's advance. However, after play testing, the allied player, knowing where and when the drop is going to take place can ambush, or at least take steps to frustrate the capture of their objective. So to stop this, I set up a reinforcement strategy and now the German player has 7 different drop plans to choose from. Each of the plans (accept No Drop) includes deversionary units to confuse the Allied player. The Drop Plans are;
a. No Drop
b. Historical Drop, Dec. 17th
c. Center/Houffalize-Salmchateau Dec. 17th
d. West/Givet-Dinant/ Dec. 18th
e. South/Alzette river/ Dec. 17th
f. North/Aywaille-Trios Point Dec. 17th
g. All points Drop/Dec. 17-18.

   Each of these plans are designed to acheive a different objective. The Historical drop was to frustrate southward movementof American reinforcements comming from the Verviers area. The center drop is to quickly capture Houffalize and Salmchateau so that mobile forces can quickly move westward. The West drop is designed to frustrate Eastward movement of the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions. In order to keep things from getting to gamey, this drop happens just a couple of turns ahead of the Allied arrival. This makes the drop risky and less likely to succede. The South drop is set up to capture and or block the bridges across the Alzette river so that the 7th Army can make quick work of the Allied southern shoulder. The North Drop is set up to control the bridges along The Salm River to prevent Allied forces from setting up blocking postions in the center. All points is set up to spread the 8 companies across the board to all the the different drop zones in order that an attempt can be made to capture all the objectives. However, with only one or two companies in any one area, this should be difficult.

NOTE: Because the main program hasn't been updated to show reinforcment strategies, the only way to view the choices and their schedule is with the scenario editor. The strategy decision points will appear during the game, and the schedule can be viewed with the main program at that point, but after that, the strategy reinforcements will not show on the main program  until they appear on the arrival screen.
    
3. To help the initial encirclement of the 106th, and 28th Infantry Divisions, 3 battlions of King Tiger tanks (3 units of 30 tanks) have been created and placed on the map along with the 506th battalion already in the historical oob. These units give the Germans a powerfull weapon during the initial stages of the battle but their significance diminishes as the battle progresses and the Allied forces grows ever stronger.

4. A reinforcement strategy option is also given to the Allied player. Historically, the US 10th Armored was transfered from Third Army to the VIII Corps of First Army during the early days of the battle. During play testing, the German player knowing the arrival times of the 10th, can really chew up the division. The allied player can now choose not to have the Unit transfered and hold it back to arrive further to the West with the rest of the Third Army units several days latter. The choice here is to either send the 10th in to get chewed up, and maybe slow the German advance, or to hold it back, and use it to lead the Third Army's counter attack.

5. In order to give the German player more organizationl flexibility, the oob has been modified to allow all large German units to break down into companies.

6. along with the German oob changes, all explicit supply units for both sides can now brake down into supply truck/wagon company sized units (10 vehicles). This should give both sides more supply flexibility.

7. The German side also has a some other minor changes. two Neberwerfer artillery units added to the II SS Panzer Corps troops. And, the 9th SS Panzer Division is fully equiped with trucks. Historically, many of the 9th's Grenadier units are on foot. Finally, some extra supply units were added to the game to compensate for the extra units on the map early in the game. These extra units (about 3) a day in the early days diminsh to 2 and or 1 as the battle moves into the later stages. 

7. Added First Army (Bradley) and Third Army (Patton) HQ's to the game. They arrive on or around the 25th. There effect on the game should be minimal at best. However, fun to have on hand.


   The German offensive was a desparate gamble, and my changes are hopefully designed to help facilitate the early stages of the Battle giving the German player a better chance of winning, but not such an advantage that victory is probable. During play testing an earlier version, it's obvious that the Allies hold a significant advantage, even when you take into account the extra German units. However, a skilled German player can expect to capture Bastogne, and destroy enough allied units to achieve a minor victory. Reaching the Meuse River is still a real problem, but I beleive it's possible. The most recent changes to this scenario shouldn't change this fact, but, it is my hope, that it will increase the level of enjoyment for both players.   