Publisher/Date:
Lone Canuck Publishing (2022)
Product Type:
Scenario Pack
Country of Origin:
Canada
Contents:
10 scenarios on cardstock
Battle for France is a scenario pack released by Lone Canuck Publishing, which has been one of the most prolific producers of ASL material in recent years–having published more than a dozen different ASL products from 2020-2024. One can only hope that they do not get stretched too thin or release products too hastily.
As its name suggests, Battle for France is themed, depicting actions during the 1940 German invasion of France and the Low Countries. Military history buffs, including ASLers, often get a distorted view of this campaign (which has created a lot of anti-French prejudice), in large part because the English-language literature on this campaign concentrates overwhelmingly on either the British experience in the campaign–i.e., the retreat to Dunkirk–or the German thrust to the Meuse and then to the sea. There are virtually no books in English on the Belgian experience in the campaign, so their weeks of fighting tend to be ignored entirely (judging by scenarios, the only Belgian unit ASLers are even aware of is the Bataillon de Chasseurs Ardennais). The Dutch experience tends to be neglected despite a few works in English from the Dutch perspective (including this one). There are accounts in English that treat the French perspective, though these overwhelmingly concentrate on the sickle cut and tend to rush through or ignore the rest of the campaign (with rare exceptions such as this book). Most of the French literature on the campaign has never been translated into English. As a result, buffs and ASLers tend to get a distorted sense of the campaign, one in which the British seem more important than they are and in which much of the fighting done by the French Army is not really given its due. Yet the campaign was a ferocious one, with high-intensity fighting and a lot of casualties (including equipment; by the end of the France 1940 campaign, one-third of all of Germany’s tanks had been destroyed). So the campaign is certainly one that deserves a lot more attention from ASL, especially attention directed at the hitherto undercovered parts of the campaign.
The best thing about Battle for France is that it focuses on the French, who did the bulk of the fighting in the campaign, rather than the small British Expeditionary Force. The second-best thing about the pack is that its scenarios are not all fixated on the initial German attack and breakout. In fact, 6 of the pack’s 10 scenarios take place on or after June 5 (June 4 was the last day of the Dunkirk evacuation and June 5 was when the Germans launched Fall Rot, their operation to cross the Somme and defeat the still substantial remaining forces of the French Army). There is, though, a strong emphasis on armor, which neglects the many infantry-on-infantry battles fought by the French and Germans in the campaign. Given the popularity of armor among ASLers, however, this is not likely to raise a chorus of complaints.
The scenarios in Battle for France tend towards the large: 6 of the 10 scenarios are large in size, while 2 are small and 2 more are medium-sized. The French attack (or counterattack) in 4 of the 10 scenarios, so the Germans are not always on the offense here. One scenario is the obligatory scenario featuring the Italians fruitlessly trying to attack through the Alps at the tail end of the war. OBA appears in 4 of the scenarios, while Air Support and Night rules are used not at all.
One can mess around with a lot of French armor in these scenarios. FT17s appear in 1 scenario, S35s appear in 2 scenarios, R35s star in 1 scenario, H39s appear in 1 scenario, and the dreaded B1-bis tanks, the Tiger tanks of their day, show up in 4 scenarios. Other French AFVs also make guest-starring appearances. Don’t worry, German armor fans, you are not neglected. You get your toys, too.
As of 2024, the most played (and balanced) scenarios are BfF1 (No Shortage of Valour), which features a German infantry assault (with a flamethrower) against a fortified French position (with the French getting 5 FT-17 tanks as reinforcements to save the day), and BfF6 (Stand at Rouen), which features a large German combined arms attack (also with a flamethrower) against another French fortified position. However, perhaps the most interesting scenario is BfF7 (Steel Mammoths), which depicts a German assault on a French fortified position and a massive French combined arms counterattack. Both sides get a lot of toys to play with and there is a real potential for initiative shifts.
Because these are scenarios from Lone Canuck Productions, support weapons are handed out to units as if they were candy, so both sides in these actions tend to be loaded to the gills with MGs, MTRs, ATRs, DCs, and everything else under the sun. Some squads may need Bags of Holding.
To play all the scenarios in the pack one needs geoboards 2, 3, 4, 8, 10, 16, 17, 17z, 20, 43, 44, 49, 54, 57, 69, 70, 71, 10b, and 12a, as well as ASLSK board x.
Leave A Reply