Version: 0.40 Beta (May 2006)

Engine: Battles in Italy

Turns: 80

AI or PBEM: PBEM/Hot Seat

Author: Robjess and Lord Chaos

Download Europe - June 1941 Version 0.20 (warning 120 meg file!)

Download WiE Patch Version 0.40 (You must already have downloaded and installed Version 0.20 above)

This is a Beta Release of the Run5 War in Europe : June 1941 Run5 scenario for Battles in Italy. This version of the scenario is listed as a Beta version simply because we expect that changes will be made to the scenario based upon further testing and feedback from within the Community. That is not to say that the scenario is unplayable or unbalanced. Thats not true - extensive testing has been conducted on this scenario and it is indeed a very playable and a very fun scenario - we simply want to alert people to the fact that due to its size (this is one huge scenario!) we do expect to make further refinements to the scenario over time.

Also be warned that this scenario pushes the Battles in Italy engine to its extremes. The map we have used in this scenario is the largest map that is possible within the Engine - so is the number of turns and number of countries. Infact SSG were kind enough to make some modifications to Battles in Italy to enable this scenario to be made. But the fact remains that - Italy was not specifically designed to run a scenario of this scale and nature and as such we really are pushing it.

This means that the specs to run this scenario may actually be different to what is required to run the standard Battles in Italy scenarios. So if you if this scenario does not run on your machine or if you experience problems running this scenario - DO NOT email or contact SSG or Matrix Games. If you want suppot in running this scenario then head over to the Run5 Discussion Forums (http://ssg.com.au/forums/) and ask for help there. Do not contact SSG or Matrix - this scenario is not one of their products and therefore is not supported by them. Having said that - installing this scenario should not impact upon or change any of your standard Battles in Italy scenarios.

All users should be aware that this scenario takes time to load, takes time to advance from turn to turn and even takes some time to turn the Combat Advisor on and off- this is normal. Thats again because this scenario is so large! There are alot of calculations that your PC needs to make - so please be patient. If you want it to run faster then upgrade your PC :) Some testers did note significant improvements from defragging their hard disk that the scenario was installed onto.

This release of War in Europe includes one scenario : June 1941. This scenario commences in June 1941 as the German amry prepares to commence Operation Barbarossa. The scenario plays for 80 turns and ends in late 1944. Each turn is roughly 2.5 weeks, units are mostly divisional level and each hex represents about 20kms.

All major roads also act as Rail roads and are therefore part of the Rail network - but note that you must control a hex to use its rail capabilities. This means that some rail networks will be disrupted by border control into Neutral Countries (with the exception of Sweden) - see house rules below.

This scenario also sees the introduction of a new unit type - Air Units. Air units are modified ART units and therefore are used in game play the same was that normal ART units are used. Due to the scale of the game, normal ART units have a very short range. Air Units are able to provide the same capabilities as ART units but at a longer range. Air units can therefore provide combat support in terms of attacking and defensive shifts, interdiction individual hexes and also barrage individual hexes and strongpoints. Whilst Air units can move they are not considered to be very mobile and therefore can only move using extended movement capability (trading its attack capability for that turn) and also has a very low and slow refuel ability. Air Units are meant to not only represent planes, but also all of the support infrastructure that comes with them (hangers, refuelers, administration, landing strips! etc) - therefore they it is a major even moving them.

In addition to this many units will be evolve and be upgraded throughout the course of the game - this is to reflect the reorganisation of units and the implementation of new technology (air units, tanks, etc).

This scenario also makes use of extensive Sea Lanes and these will need to be used to transfer units between fronts (North Africa) and to conduct amphibious invasions (Torch, Husky, Sealion, Normandy etc). Of course you are not restricted to following the course of history in terms of where and when you invade! You will need to control certain ports and strategically important areas to enable to you to use a sea lane though. For example, you must control Gibralter to enable access between its straits to and from the Atlantic and the Mediterranean and you can only invade Italy from certain points in North Africa for example.

There is a sea lane that extends from England all the way down the left hand side and along the bottom of the map and comes out at Alexandria/Suez. This is to reflect the long way around the Cape Horn. Sea lanes and Supply are two areas which we plan to work extensively only in future releases.

As stated previously, it has been very difficult to completely balance and refine this scenario - due to the size of it (80 turns and hundreds of units!). Our testing does show that it does seem to play out well according to history - but we value any feedback that you may have in relation to playability and balance.

Whilst objectives have been added to the game - most objectives will only provide points for their initial capture. But at the end of the day you will win if any of the following happens:

- If the Germans defeat Russia then they are going to be hard pressed to beat.
- If the Germans invade and capture the UK then they are going to be hard pressed to beat.
- If the Germans do both of those things then you may as well turn the machine off and go to bed.
- If the Germans lose Berlin they should lose.

So you can play the game using these rules if you like without regard to any objective points. There will generally be two major phases in the game for each side:

- The allied player needs to hold the 3 major russian objectives (Leningrad, Moscow and Stalingrad); if they can hold the German player back then they have completed their first task and then they move onto their second task - to capture Berlin. And the reverse is so for the German player. Attack and Defend.

At this stage there is NO AI in this scenario - it is a PBEM/Hot Seat only scenario. We may develop an AI for it in the furture - but its going to be difficult given the scale!

This is our first scenario using this battleset (map and unit data). We do plan on releasing additional scenarios (Sealion, France 1941, Spain/Portugal/Turkey variants) in the future. So be sure to check the Run5 site for future releases. In addition to this we are more then happy for others to use this battleset/scenario to make their own variant scenarios. If you do this, we ask that you give credit where credit is due and also send us a copy so that we can play it too!

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The all important House Rules:
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This is very important!! Due to the size and nature of this scenario it is not possible for us to control everything from within the game engine. To that end we have introduced some very important house rules which must be adhered to by all players. Although having said that - players are free to make their own house rules between each other prior to commencing their games. If they do not make their own house rules then it is deemed that the following ones apply:

- The following areas are off limits to all units: Portugal, Spain, Turkey, Switzerland.

- German Carpet Bombing can not be used in North Africa or on the Finnish/Soviet front.

- Axis Finnish Units can not be used to attack Soviet Russia unless Soviet Units are withdrawn from the front or Finnish units come under attack themselves. Not that it is ok for Finnish units to advance to the strongpoints at the top of Leningrad - but no further then that. Unless stated above.

- Minor Axis units can not be redeployed to areas outside their locality. In other words, Romanian forces can not be sent to North Africa or the Western Front. etc

- Units may only enter Amphibious mode in a port (an urban hex on the coast).

- Units exiting Amphibious mode on a friendly controlled hex may only do so in a port (an urban hex on the coast).

- Units may invade (exit amphibious mode) on any enemy controlled hex that forms part of the sea lane.

- Units are prohibited from stacking units on all hexes along the coasts in Normandy and or the UK. There are not limitations to the stacking of Units away from the coast though. We have to introduct this rule so that amphibious operations are possible. You may place some units on coastal hexes but as a rule of thumb no more then 1/3 of coastal hexes should be allowed to be defended.

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Whats new in version 0.40
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- Supply system updated and corrected. Supply units now correctly use a captured supply source.
- ART Bombardment odds reduced.
- Strongpoints added for Russian player.
- Fixed an issue with 26th INF (Russian) incorrectly taking ARM replacements.
- Extensive testing conducted on this version (special thanks Matt and Raymond).
- New scenario added (Nth Africa).

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Whats new in Version 0.30
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- Name of 1941 scenario changed to War in Europe '41 Campaign. This change was made as some people were confusing the scenario name at the top of the screen in game as being the date!
- Allied Unit in Gibralter fixed so that it can no longer enter Spain.
- Sweden now made a neutral country and units can no longer enter the countries hexes. Also removed Axis supply sources, reinforcements and sea lanes to and from sweden.
- Russian Naval capability (sea transports) reduced significantly, they now have very limited and varied sea capability.
- Axis Operation Sealion sea lanes enabled.
- Allied strongpoints added to the coast of England to guard against potential Axis invasion (sea lion). The way this will work is that the Axis air forces (ART units) will need to bombard and destroy these strongpoints on the UK coast to open up landing zones. This bombardment is to reflect a poor mans Battle of Britian. It was the best I could do!
- Commonwealth Allied Alert points added to coastal zones and approaches to London, so that if Sealion is conducted by the Axis, then commonwealth reserves will be released depending on the Axis success.
- Commonwealth Alert Reseved (as noted above) will be released if UK is invaded. These alert units start off very week to reflect that any emergency units shipped from Australia, NZ, India, Canada would not be fully capable.
- US Alert units added if London is captured. Ie: If the Germans capture London then this is a reason for the USA to enter the war in europe earlier then expected. These units also start off weak.
- CRT for Woods fixed in relation to overruns.
- Fixed problem with some Russian units not being able to take replacements.
- Add strong point assets for all sides to be placed on specific turns. Especially during the first Winter for the Russians.
- Reduced the movement capability for AA and AT units
- Added port capability to Bristol and Swansea
- Increase Axis fuel capacity (starting OPs in reserve) for axis units taking part in the start of Operation Barbarossa. This means that can assault deeper into Russia before they run out of juice.
- Corrected some individual unit issues (ie: some units couldnt repair bridges when they should have been able to, some units couldnt take replacements etc
- Correct some terrain issues (ie: terrain type didnt match the map).
- Reduced Russian Supply capability during initial blitz
- Reduced Axis Supply capability during first winter
- Reduced all supply states during winter period
- Removed the German Garrison units that were alerted when Western/Southern Europe was invaded. They dont need them! Or they shouldnt.
- Increased defense values and anti shock values for AA and AT units.
- Enabled entrenchment capability for AA and AT units
- Made German 88 units (AA) more effective in defense
- Allies obtain ART shift bonus during first winter to reflect the impact the winter had on the Germans in Russia.
- Increased Supply Truck movement OPs and increased their supply bags by 1 taking them to 2.
- Adjusted Russian Tactical shifts to be more in line with other Major Countries (Germans, UK, USA).
- Corrected an issue with some Axis reinforcement hexes not being hidden.
- Created another scenario titled Armee Group North which is the advance on Leningrad.

Supply System updates:

- Supply burst from Supply sources uses supply mode.
- Supply burst from supply trucks uses leg mode.
- Supply trace from trucks to supply source uses supply mode.
- Supply trucks are able to supply other supply trucks - so you can daisy chain supply trucks.
- There are 5 main types of supply sources (in most instances a supply source can be used by the enemy if captured):
- Capital Cities and Centres which provide a burst of 50 (Moscow, London, Berlin, Rome etc)
- Minor Capitals or Major Supply centures with a burst of 30 (Paris, Leningrad, Stalingrad, Budapest, Poleski)
- Normal supply centres with a burst of 25 (Odessa, Minsk etc)
- Ports which provide a burst of 15 (the majority of urban hexes on the coast - note that some of these are considered Supply Centres, or Capitals so may have a burst of greater then 15 (for example Alexandria)
- Invasion supply points. These are special supply points that can not be used by the enemy, also invasion supply points can not (generally) allow replacements to be assigned to units. The purpose of an Invasion supply point is to enable an invasion - they will not generally allow for deep penetrations and are only really of use to help establish the capture of an enemy supply source or port.

Generally, supply should be good for both sides during the summer - although its not gauranteed. In the winter - expect some big problems for your units on the front - unless they are very close to a supply source. Over extend and you will hurt!

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Whats new in Version 0.20
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- Gilbralter Garrison made Static
- Allied Sealanes corrected
- Axis sealanes updated (lanes in the Black sea added, Sealion removed)
- Supply is untouched in this version - although it has been amended for the Barbarossa scenario
- Operation Barbarossa "Great War in the East" added.
- Vinchy units made static
- Vinchy Country counters corrected
- Several hexes terrain types corrected
- Reinforcement hexes made invisible to the opposing player
- Alternate Reinforcemnt arrival hexes added
- Russian Replacements revised
- All unit strength values reduced to correct 255 CAP attack limitations
- Vinchy unit surrender odds corrected
- Air unit shifts revised
- Weather (sky) random settings revised
- UK Home Guards updated
- AA/AT unit movement values revised
- Political units added for UK, Russia.
- Invasion supply sources updated and amended to not allow replacements from these points - a valid supplied port must now be captured to allow replacements.
- Dates added to Turn Names
- ZOC over rivers revised
- Engineers updated to ensure they could all repair bridges
- Fixed rail capability of Air units
- Made Odessa port for sea lane purposes
- Revised movement costs for movement in bad ground
- German alert points revised
- Discrepancies with Map corrected.

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Installation:
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Download the scenario archive from the Download link above. . Double click on the Europe.exe and the installer should properly identify your Battles in Italy folder and correctly install the scenario into the ...battles in Italy\scenarios\Europe folder.

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Credits:
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This scenario was created by Robjess (Map and scenario design) and Lord Chaos (OOB and scenario design). Special thanks goes to those Run5ers involved in testing and feedback. This scenario is intended for PBEM play only at this stage.

Posted by robjess on June 2005

For more information visit Run5 at http://www.ssg.com.au - as always we value your feedback on this scenario!