G40 Benelux (Belgium/Netherlands/Luxembourg) Setup

[JustLuthor]

Here’s my suggested setup for Dutch, Belgian, and Luxembourgish (Benelux) units. I decided to make the three countries into one power, since their capitals are in the same territory (Holland Belgium). This setup is based on the historic order of battle for Benelux troops after the German invasion, as well an attempt to not unbalance the game too much.

Benelux begins the game in control of all Dutch territories, as well as Belgian Congo (subtract 1 IPC from UK Europe). They move after France’s turn. Benelux acts as a conquered nation (like France after G1), and thus it does not collect income. Allied nations can liberate Benelux territories, and collect their income. Should the Allies liberate Holland Belgium, Benelux may collect income as a normal nation. Benelux has no National Objectives.

Historical Board Gaming has orange pieces that can be used, as well as roundels. The only pieces they’re missing are submarines, and AAA guns. Both of which can be purchased in white, and then painted orange.

UPDATE!
After testing it out, I’ve made some minor adjustments, including additional Axis units to offset the disparity of allied units.

DUTCH SETUP (Updated 5/29/2019
United Kingdom: 1 Infantry
Scotland: 1 Artillery
Suriname: 1 Fighter
Belgian Congo: 1 Infantry
Sumatra: 1 Infantry
Java: 1 Infantry, 1 Artillery, 1 Tank, 1 Fighter
Celebes: 1 Infantry
Dutch New Guinea: 1 Infantry
Seazone 39: 1 Destroyer
Seazone 42: 1 Destroyer, 1 Cruiser, 1 Transport
Seazone 56: 1 Submarine

JAPANESE ADDITIONAL SETUP
Marianas: 1 Infantry
Formosa: 1 Infantry
Hainan: 1 Infantry
Marshall Islands: 1 Infantry
Siam: 1 Tank, 1 Fighter
Sea Zone 6: 1 Transport
Sea Zone 19: 1 Submarine
Sea Zone 36: 1 Submarine, 1 cruiser

ADDITIONAL ITALIAN SETUP
Sea Zone 76: 1 Submarine

ADDITIONAL GERMAN SETUP
Norway: 1 Artillery, 1 Tank

[Caesar-Seriona]

Their Pacific Colonies lack transports, they had transports and use them actively in the Pacific.

[JustLuthor]

I thought about it, but I’m already dumping a bunch of free units to help the allies hold Indonesia, do I really want to give them logistical auxiliaries?

[Caesar-Seriona]

I house rules for historical accuracy so yes.

[JustLuthor]

Well, I house rule for historical accuracy balanced with eloquence of play, so no.

But you do you.

I would eventually like to overhaul the game with a new map, setup, and political situation that is more historically accurate.

[Caesar-Seriona]

I have plans for it however Netherland transports is a must because they served too much use in the Pacific to be ignored, their greatest use would be the fact they were the nation that delivered the Flying Tigers to India.

[General Veers]

This is a neat idea but amounts to a massive Allied bid; I wonder if one way to mitigate this is to remove UK/ANZAC custodianship of Dutch territories and treat them like those of any other vanquished nation (caveat being ANZAC’s Defensive Perimeter NO is modified to treat the Dutch like any other ally). This would encourage a Calcutta Crush with a limited UK Pac income but Japan has much more work to do to get the money islands, especially if ANZAC is reinforcing them. At this point I’d also add a French infantry to FIC for historical flavor.

One concession to the Axis could be to put a minor in Belgium-Holland which could give Germany more options for Sealion.

[JustLuthor]

I agree that it’s a major boost to the allies. You could also add additional Japanese units to Siam to represent Thai forces. I recommend 1 Tank, 1 Fighter in Siam, and 1 Submarine, 1 Cruiser in Seazone 36. This represents Thailand’s forces around this time better than the OOB setup.

I also have a house rule about adding 1 French infantry to French Indo China.  :-D

[KaLeu]

I like the general idea though of course it would have to be carefully balanced. As for the units, I’m not much in favor of the tank in Scotland, for realism’s sake. The Dutch had one small tank at home. The Belgians did have a significant number of tanks but evacuating them to the UK was evidently impossible. Having two Benelux infantry units there is already more than enough compared to the French who were far more numerous.
Dutch New Guinea might have an infantry unit, though. Dutch resistance continued throughout the war there, and the Japanese never completely conquered that territory.

[Caesar-Seriona]

FIC should under realism have 1 inf, 1 AA, 1 tank, 1 Art. but to the point Dutch forces should also have units in UK that should be 2 inf.

[JustLuthor]

@Herr:

I like the general idea though of course it would have to be carefully balanced. As for the units, I’m not much in favor of the tank in Scotland, for realism’s sake. The Dutch had one small tank at home. The Belgians did have a significant number of tanks but evacuating them to the UK was evidently impossible. Having two Benelux infantry units there is already more than enough compared to the French who were far more numerous.
Dutch New Guinea might have an infantry unit, though. Dutch resistance continued throughout the war there, and the Japanese never completely conquered that territory.

I can’t find it now, but in my research, I came across a Dutch tank unit raised in England after the fall of the Netherlands. For balance’s sake, maybe it should be 1 Artillery to represent Luxembourg’s limited contribution to the allied war effort. And maybe it should be only one infantry in England for both balance, and scale.

I couldn’t find any Dutch 1940 Order of Battle for Dutch New Guinea. I only found references to DNG being reinforced after Japan declared war. This is the best historical argument for a Dutch transport in the Pacific, though I still feel it should be up to ANZAC to ferry Dutch units around for balance’s sake, which is empirically more important than historical accuracy.

Another reason I don’t stress accuracy, is that it’s a slippery slope that eventually leads to completely revamping the game; not just the setup, but the map, and game mechanics as well. I would certainly like to do this for my own amusement, but it’s hard enough to get a game of Global going. I don’t want to compound that problem by creating an even more complicated game with 40-something countries, resources, trade agreements, diplomatic agreements, governments in exile, technology, a dozen new units, prison camps, espionage, sabotage, food rationing on the home front, and the Bretton Woods Conference.

Though I would totally play that game.

[Caesar-Seriona]

You can find easy evidence of Dutch transports.

[Caesar-Seriona]

@JustLuthor:

@Herr:

I like the general idea though of course it would have to be carefully balanced. As for the units, I’m not much in favor of the tank in Scotland, for realism’s sake. The Dutch had one small tank at home. The Belgians did have a significant number of tanks but evacuating them to the UK was evidently impossible. Having two Benelux infantry units there is already more than enough compared to the French who were far more numerous.
Dutch New Guinea might have an infantry unit, though. Dutch resistance continued throughout the war there, and the Japanese never completely conquered that territory.

I can’t find it now, but in my research, I came across a Dutch tank unit raised in England after the fall of the Netherlands. For balance’s sake, maybe it should be 1 Artillery to represent Luxembourg’s limited contribution to the allied war effort. And maybe it should be only one infantry in England for both balance, and scale.

I couldn’t find any Dutch 1940 Order of Battle for Dutch New Guinea. I only found references to DNG being reinforced after Japan declared war. This is the best historical argument for a Dutch transport in the Pacific, though I still feel it should be up to ANZAC to ferry Dutch units around for balance’s sake, which is empirically more important than historical accuracy.

Another reason I don’t stress accuracy, is that it’s a slippery slope that eventually leads to completely revamping the game; not just the setup, but the map, and game mechanics as well. I would certainly like to do this for my own amusement, but it’s hard enough to get a game of Global going. I don’t want to compound that problem by creating an even more complicated game with 40-something countries, resources, trade agreements, diplomatic agreements, governments in exile, technology, a dozen new units, prison camps, espionage, sabotage, food rationing on the home front, and the Bretton Woods Conference.

Though I would totally play that game.

From my understanding of Luxembourg war effort against the Wehrmacht was the fact their nation did not have a military and only their capital city had some kind of defense and it was the cities police force that fought and surrendered (if I remember correctly) after a day of fighting. So as far as I know, no military campaign of any sort came from Luxembourg.

[JustLuthor]

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner, but it’s been a crazy year.

I know that there is evidence of Dutch transports, and I’m not refuting that. I’m simply stating that the addition of a transport makes the new Dutch units too powerful on the game board, and grossly unbalances the game in favor of the Allies, which is a bad thing.

My solution, after play testing, is to give the Axis some units to balance it out, and I’ve edited my original post to reflect this.

@Caesar-Seriona said in G40 Benelux (Belgium/Netherlands/Luxembourg) Setup:

@JustLuthor:

@Herr:

I like the general idea though of course it would have to be carefully balanced. As for the units, I’m not much in favor of the tank in Scotland, for realism’s sake. The Dutch had one small tank at home. The Belgians did have a significant number of tanks but evacuating them to the UK was evidently impossible. Having two Benelux infantry units there is already more than enough compared to the French who were far more numerous.
Dutch New Guinea might have an infantry unit, though. Dutch resistance continued throughout the war there, and the Japanese never completely conquered that territory.

I can’t find it now, but in my research, I came across a Dutch tank unit raised in England after the fall of the Netherlands. For balance’s sake, maybe it should be 1 Artillery to represent Luxembourg’s limited contribution to the allied war effort. And maybe it should be only one infantry in England for both balance, and scale.

I couldn’t find any Dutch 1940 Order of Battle for Dutch New Guinea. I only found references to DNG being reinforced after Japan declared war. This is the best historical argument for a Dutch transport in the Pacific, though I still feel it should be up to ANZAC to ferry Dutch units around for balance’s sake, which is empirically more important than historical accuracy.

Another reason I don’t stress accuracy, is that it’s a slippery slope that eventually leads to completely revamping the game; not just the setup, but the map, and game mechanics as well. I would certainly like to do this for my own amusement, but it’s hard enough to get a game of Global going. I don’t want to compound that problem by creating an even more complicated game with 40-something countries, resources, trade agreements, diplomatic agreements, governments in exile, technology, a dozen new units, prison camps, espionage, sabotage, food rationing on the home front, and the Bretton Woods Conference.

Though I would totally play that game.

From my understanding of Luxembourg war effort against the Wehrmacht was the fact their nation did not have a military and only their capital city had some kind of defense and it was the cities police force that fought and surrendered (if I remember correctly) after a day of fighting. So as far as I know, no military campaign of any sort came from Luxembourg.

The Luxembourg government in exile did field a small artillery troop attached to the 1st Belgian Field Artillery Battery (specifically Troop C). They fought in Northern France, and Belgium.