La Bataille de France, 1940 (2015)

In May, 1940, World War II took a turn that will change history forever—the German Army invaded France through the neutral countries of Belgium and Netherlands and thus avoiding the fearsome Maginot Line. The French Army, supposedly the best army of the time, felt far from any threat. Against all expectations, the neutral nations were quickly overrun, and the British Expeditionary Corps was forced to be evacuated, almost miraculously, from the channel port of Dunkirk. France capitulated in two months.

This game recreates those events and allows players to reproduce, at a tactical level, the most famous battles of the “Blitzkrieg”. Based on the “A las Barricadas” game system, with new rules added to simulate to this historical period, France 1940 promises many enjoyable hours of fierce game play involving infantry, tanks, artillery, and aircraft from all the armies that took part in this campaign.

Compass Games - Military Simulations: La Bataille de France 1940

La Bataille de France 1940 recreates the events of those days and allows the players to reproduce the most famous battles of the Blitzkrieg on the Western Front. at a tactical level. Players take command of either the Allied or Axis forces (or can play solitaire) in the tactical battles of each scenario.

La Bataille de France 1940 represents the jump of the War Storm Series from the Spanish Civil War into World War 2. Based on the system originally used in A las Barricadas!, the first game in the War Storm Series, La Bataille de France 1940incorporates new and adapted rules for the World War 2 era. The War Storm Series promises many hours of fierce fighting between the infantry, tanks, artillery and aircraft belonging to the armies enveloped in this conflict.

The War Storm Series

The War Storm Series is a game series designed to simulate combined arms company level combat. Each game in the series has numerous scenarios allowing players to simulate a number of company or battalion level combats.

All War Storm Series games are of moderate complexity with good solitaire suitability. The system emphasizes the role of officers. Officers can activate units, coordinate with other officers and their units, call for artillery support, air support, smoke screens, influence moral checks, coordinate assaults, and much more. Rules for special actions, include create improved positions, entrench, replace officers, road-blocks, clear wire, units in Reaction, double time movement, load-upload, minefields, fortifications, rubble, barbed wire, dragoon teeth, anti-tank ditch and pontoon bridges. The various units include leaders, infantry, political commissars, priests, MMGs, mortars, artillery, AT guns, vehicles, armored vehicles, tanks, aircraft close support squadrons, aircraft bombardment squadrons, and even cavalry.

War Storm Series games are based on the principle of simultaneous execution, or simply "WE GO", a hybrid system of turns and "real time". The players must activate unit leaders to perform many actions (fire, assault, move, coordinate, etc). A turn ends when both players have completed all their activations. The scale is company level with units representing groups of between 30 and 40 soldiers, weapons units represents groups of 3-4 weapons and their accompanying crews (20-25 soldiers), and the AFvs-Transports representing groups of 3 to 5 vehicles and their corresponding crews. Scenarios are divided into turns representing about 12-15 minutes of action. Turns are divided into the following phases:

Command Phase
Initiative Phase
Activation Phase
Marker Removal Phase

The game uses isomorphic maps, each of which are aligned to any edge of equal length on any other map. This allows for an almost unlimited number of combinations to create any terrain situation, including player designed scenarios. Each map hex represents a distance of approximately 150 to 200 meters.

Product Information

Complexity: Medium (5 out of 10)
Solitaire suitability: 8
Time Scale: 1 turn = 12 - 15 minutes
Map Scale: 1 hex = 150 - 200 meters
Unit Scale: Companies & 3-5 vehicles
Players: 2
Playing Time: Small Scenarios: 45 minutes and up
Designer: Juan Carlos Cebrian and Niko Eskubi
Artist: Niko Eskubi

Components:

4 Isomorphic Maps
4 Sheets of Counters (2 of 5/8" and 2 of 3/4")
1 Rulebook
6 Scenario Cards featuring 12 scenarios
2 Charts and Tables Cards
2 six-sided dice
One box and lid set