Historical Background: Bellaval strongpoint - 22nd of June 1940. While plenipotentiary from Germany and France were meeting in Rethondes to sign the Armistice, Italian troops attacked the french in the Alps. Alpini of "Tridentina" Division crossed "La Seigne" pass at a height of 2500m under the fire of French mountain artillery and attacked the Bellegarde strongpoint (also called Bellaval). This was the very first line of the French defensive system in the high mountains, it was made of four stone-made blockhaus and armed by a platoon of the 80th Alpin Fortress Battalion with only 8 light machine guns. Taking advantage of the fog, Alpini crossed the valley and climbed the slope of the mountain, crossing the barbed wire under French fire. Combat was hard and Italians suffered heavy losses, but the 4 bunkers were seized one after the other. At the end of the day, Bellegarde strongpoint had fallen but the weather conditions were so bad and the French resistance so hard than Italians stopped definitively their advance until the Armistice between France and Italy on the 25th of June. The battle of "La Seigne" pass cost 54 KIA and more than 700 injured or frozen to the Italian Alpini.
Briefing: Axis Player [Italy] : 6 command cards, you move first. Allied Player [France] : 4 command cards.
Conditions of Victory: Axis Player : Seize the 4 french blockhaus, each blockhaus is a permanent medal objective. Allied Player : 6 medals.
Special Rules: - No plane because of bad weather conditions, "Air Power" card is not used by any player, take another card on the pile. - Torrent is passable, use "Ford" rules" (Terrain 41). - French artillery is placed on a mountain so the range is increased by one, 7 hex (Terrain 30) . - Fort de Seloge is on the top of a hill.
Scenario Bibliography: - Magazine Troupes d'élite - Les Italiens attaquent dans les Alpes. - Album Mémorial - Bataille des Alpes - Ed. Heimdal.
Warning: Please note that this scenario was not approved by Richard Borg or Days of Wonder, so you have to check yourself about playability, potential gaming issues, etc.
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Set-up Order |
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20 |
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15 |
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2 |
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1 |
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6 |
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1 |
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1 |
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8 |
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4 |
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1 |
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12 |
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4 |
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