Megablitz game system

I have been preparing both sides for the 1940 campaign intending to use the Megablitz rules and system to play through a number of battles to see if they accurately portray the chaos and lack of purpose amongst the French forces while giving a fair representation of the German forces abilities and capacities as well. 

Likely we will play what-if scenarios and battles since I find that it provides more options and freedom to the players than to make they once again be forced to refight scenarios that are forced by historical hindsight.

The scale and figures I chose to go with were the 10mm line by Pendraken miniatures and I coupled that with the decision to base all the basic units on 2" hexagons and play on a hex grid.  This for a number of reasons but chiefly because it removes the need for constant measurements and it also represents a 'square' kilometer of ground which is about the lowest a battalion would be expected to deploy in.

From previous playing in other scales and circumstances it became obvious that being able to identify what a unit was and what 'division' it was a sub unit to are critical to playing multi-divisional games on the tabletop.  When you have 12 infantry stands and 3-12 transport stands plus various guns/tanks/fuel trucks etc... per division it is easy to lose sight of where your guys are and whether they are in or out of command and supply and any moment.

As you can see I have amassed a few divisions per side:

Each division resides in its own bow and has its roster (including strength point rosters) in with them.  While I originally thought we would play using the SP formula as noted in the rules I am now more inclined to the Memoir 44 approach of having all infantry stands (battalions) have a similar strength (4 SP) so in large multi-player games you can tell at a glance how units are doing by checking the number of plastic rings placed over the figures to count losses.

Each divisions has all its subordinate units identified with a unique and color coded tag on the stand, you can tell your troops from your buddy's (and even from the opponent's) at a glance.  Stands that get 'lost' during a furious engagement eventually find their way to the home box.

Here is a French Division Legere Mechanique (mechanized division) by contrast.

And here are the stands used to represent Cirps and Army HQs.  In the French army this is where Army level reserves of Heavy Artillery, Independent tank battalions, Pioneers and Pontooners and assigned Air Force coordination was held.

Here we see a 'typical' French infantry division of three regiments (3 bns each) plus supporting stands deployed 2 up one back with the HQ securely protected in the rear.

Here the same with a few tiles from Memoir 44 to show they can be used out of the box in this scale.

And here is the DLM strung out on an approach march with recon elements to the fore and the rest of the division in column down the road behind them.

We have had a few familiarization games to brush up on how troops move, fight and fit on the table and are now ready to play out a real campaign.

More to follow.