Scenario:Fortress Zeelands

Scenario

Set Up

The Germans hold all the Zeeland Islands, the bulk of their army is either in the islands themselves or spread around the eastern boundary to a point southeast of Antwerp.

The Allied army is gathered mostly along the channel coast opposite Vlissingen and east to Antwerp.

Air and naval play should be highlighted by this configuration.

Equipment is mostly tier 2 and 3, although there is a smattering of useful tier 1 material, and some tier 0 gear where it is appropriate.

Rank will be open, so even a recruit can try out equipment that they normally would have to earn through game play on the campaign server.

This set-up requires that supply be turned on, rather than unlimited, but we will shorten resupply timers to reduce significantly the effects of attrition, making supply not much of an issue, which promotes a play style that is less serious about "saving gear" and more fun for the campaign break.

Torpedo bombers will be available, so if you don't know how to torpedo bomb, you might want to do some reading up about that in our forums. Torpedo maximum drop speed is 160 mph and minimum drop altitude is 200 ft. Above those values your torpedo will not release. This is tricky to get right without some careful flying.

Objectives

We're going to try and keep this simple, as complex objectives and rules confuse a lot of people who just want to have some fun between campaigns. So a simple one makes for a change.

• The Allies have to capture the Zeeland Islands
• The Germans have to defend the islands and try to keep them German
• Antwerp has been set-up as an alternative "target" by which the Germans have a way to pull Allied resources from attacking the islands into defending Antwerp. By definition, this means it is an Allied objective to not lose Antwerp to the Germans, since this will help them to defend the islands.

Result

After the first day of furious action over the channel between Knokke and Vlissingen, the Allied forces managed to gain a foothold on the Vlissingen airfield, thus cementing their air superiority over that front, at least for the time being. The fighting was intense on the ground as well as in the air, and even funneling plane after plane of paratroops over the airfield eventually failed to prevent the Germans from pushing the Allies back off the island and regaining the use of their forward airfield there.

The night that followed upped the ante, and the fighting increased in ferocity. Realizing that an attack at another point with greater importance than the forward airfield of Vlissingen would draw Allied attention away from that battle, the Germans moved up through the surrounding towns of Antwerp, capturing Schilde, Kalmthout and Bergen Op Zoom.

The battle of Antwerp had begun. The Allies never fail to fight for Antwerp like it was the last stop before the end of the world. So it would be this time too.

When the result was called after another day of death and destruction in Battleground Europe, the Germans had held onto the Zeeland islands and captured Antwerp into the bargain, and when the event was closed for the start of the main Campaign (no.69) this event would go down as an Axis victory.