Unfortunately, I was very busy last times and I could not report on this game. Almost I only could play every two sessions.
In summary, German rapidly destroyed the initial front line and deeply penetrate in France with their mobile units. French and British did not defend properly in depth and gaps were used to attack the supply allied lines. Most of the Belgium units were lost out of supply. Overall a bad play of Allied commanders and good play by Germans.
A few pics:
Our last session was devoted to the setup of the Campaign scenario with Holland of The Blitzkrieg Legend.
This game of the OCS series depicts the German campaign against France in 1940. The scenario we are planning to play is the full campaign, including the conquest of Holland. Four players, two by side.
Here are some pics of the map after set-up.
And some perspective view before deploying the French …
On the following turns, I tried to advance towards Damascus. However, the strong Armor units of Vichy France were too menacing and I was extremely cautious. I need to fully understand how to move infantry untis in this Desertic terrain. I was also worried about that nasty bombers and artillery so, to avoid density penalties i was only stacking two counters per hex. I do not know if this is a good tactic but my feeling is that i needed to be more aggresive and concentrate in the road.
Two pics of the situation:
 |  |
Note also that Vichy France was retreating towards better defensive positions.
Too late i decide to spend some supply to build an advanced airfield and try to stop the bombing.
We put all our effort (and supply) into break the positions at the road coast. Unsucessfully.
More attacks continued on the coast and, after some advancements, there was a heavy counterattack of Vichy that destroyed CW line.
 Initial CW attack |  Vichy counterattack |
At Damascus sector, an effort to pass the river turned into disaster for the CW, and the following attack of Armor units (after a double Vichy turn), completely outflanked the Free French units and arrived up to their HQs.
 CW approaching river |  Cavalry attack turned into big defeat (4-column surprise shift for the defender) |
 Collapse of CW position |  No advances in the middle |
And CW surrendered. Final map
Conclusion: this was a trial game of Reluctant Enemies. More of the time I was learning the supply mechanics and getting a feeling of how the game flows. It is a very interesting campaign that deserves to be played a few more times. In overall we have played in four sessions so it is not very demanding for a replay.
Now we are ready to move to a team play of a bigger OCS title: Blitkrieg’s Legend, the campaign of France’40.
And I should remember, this is a game about supply network and managing reserves.
Operational Combat Series games are usually big monsters where you must deal with hundreds of counters while carefully planning your supply network in order to perform movement, barrages, attacks, …
They are not for the beginner wargamer who may get overwhelmed just during the setup. Fortunately, this year it has appeared the last game in the series, Reluctant Enemies. This is not a monster game, just one map, low counter density and it should be an introductory game for the whole series. So, I have decided to give it a try and, introduced by my colleague Alberto, to learn rules, and get a feeling of how to deal with operational problems.
 | Reluctant Enemies depicts the fight between British and Free French troops against Vichy France for the control of Syria en the summer of 1941. There is a really nice Starter Guide here that you should read before playing this game. This is how our game was with me playing the Commonwealth side. |
Initial setup: At the beginning CW player must secretly note where his Commando units will disembark. These units will be in supply for the first turn. My goal was to sacrifice the units to mainly disturb the supply line that goes along the road in the coast. So my landing was close to Damour.
Then I will try to advance towards Damascus from Amman in one side and from Lake Tiberias in the other side. Unfortunately, I was out of Naval Barrage for the first three or four days, so my commandos died slowly. And I missed the attacks against the unit at
 Rest of Commando surviving against Vichy French |  Missing the attacks at Fiq I could not connect the whole railroad until 14th June |
In the open side of the map (right side), I was advancing without opposition as Vichy French troops were retreating slowly just to prepare a counterattack in time…
During this time, there was a few skirmished at the open terrain south of Mt Hermon with both sides trying to put units out of supply.
On June 19th, CW troops achieved to establish a position close to Kuneitra where they were stopped by Vichy France. In Syria two battalions were destroyed after being surprised by French Armored Units. This nasty maneuver will be repeated three more times during the fight: releasing armor units, rolling for surprise, getting a +6 columns in the attack and destroying CW units. A tough lesson to be learned for a beginner.
