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The German Blitzkrieg caught a French army and nation in disarray in June, 1940..
Leadership was reeling with indecision the rule of the day. French doctrine was
based on fighting a second war with WW1 tactics, weapons and will. France paid
the price of myopic thinking in a lightning world in a railroad car near Paris.

We put together an approximation of the Battle of Stonne. You can find the
scenario in the Fire and Fury Games Battlefront scenario section. Thanks to Allen
for telling us about it.

The French deployed up to one half the table dug in and in concealed positions.
The Germans had 400 points of Air Supremacy. The French had no interception
available. The Germans got first turn as the attacker. Limited weapon ranges
kept the "bloodshed" to a minimum. German advances upon both flanks of the
French positions kept the French commander on his heels throughout the game.

German air power rendered the French superiority in artillery impotent and
showed all players what the Luftwaffe could and did do consistently to Allied
forces throughout the campaign. We used one "air power roll" per side rather than
per player to speed play. It worked pretty well, the two players would then roll for
the total number of aircraft. Stukas swamped the battlefield! A historical result!

The French commander kept most of his armor reserve in cover negating mobility
because of the persistent Stukas. This would prove to be his undoing. German
88s unloaded and quickly made short work of the small reserve squadron of
CharB-bis coming on in turn 3.

German infantry cleared out two of the three villages that made up the semi-urban
area of Stonne, wiping out the Fusiliers. The supporting French AT guns made a
mark but not enough to cause motivation checks.

The game was decided after a series of bloody exchanges on both sides. The
French company morale was broken after a failed company morale.

Great game...if you missed it....as usual....it was down to the last platoon, If you
didn't make it...you missed a great FoW "pick--up game" done at the Rat Palace III.

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