It's been years since I've played a physical form of a hex and counter game. With a little time on my hands I decided to go all old school on you and give one a go. So on a whim I picked up a copy of
GMT Game's Holland'44. For me, Market-Garden is one most interesting battles of WW2 and one that I have a high level of knowledge. I can also remember hours of play trying to finish the old SPI title "Highway to the Reich". That was one of the "Monster" SPI games we all loved, said we played to the end and but I'm pretty sure never really did. HTTR was at the company/ platoon level and had 4 22x32 inch map sections.
Holland'44 is set at the Battalion level, with a handful of companies and a map thats about 50 inches long and 22 wide. The game is designed by Mark Simonitch and has an elegant ruleset. It's also very highly reviewed and said to be good for Solitaire play. Setting up the game was easy as set up locations or entry turns are printed on the counters and there's a handy sheet to organize the initial forces on. Still it took me about 45 minutes to set the game up. Vassal has spoiled me on this front.
Any game of Market Garden is initially 4 separate little drama's, that, if things go well for the Allies, merge into one big battle - or, if things don't go so well, stay separate. I'm sure all of you know the history - Montgomery devised a plan to drop 3 airborne divisions along a 60 mile corridor to seize a series of bridges. The British army, lead by 30 Corps, would charge across the bridges and end the war by Christmas. At least that was the plan. Faulty intelligence grossly underestimated the strength of the German forces in the area and we have the well known "Bridge to Far" outcome.
I think I've read almost 20 books on the battle - starting with the Cornelius Ryan book "A Bridge to Far" when I was 15 or so. To this day my thoughts on the battle range from it was a brilliant idea to it's so complex WTF was Montgomery thinking. In the end hubris and over complexity doomed the operation but was a gallant effort.
So on with the game:
The first photo shows the entire map with the initial forces set up including the airborne units in their drop zones. The terrain is varied but not really ideal for mechanized operations. 30 Corps is on the far left and Arnhem to the far right.
A shot of the turn record track obscured by the reinforcements that come in over the course of the game. There are a lot of German forces coming on the map.....
As four the 4 separate "theaters" on this Operation we have:
The British 1st Airborne Division - their goal is to seize the bridge at Arnhem or the railway bridge just to north of Arnhem if they get lucky and the bridge doesn't get blown. As allied forces move next to a bridge the german player can choose to try and blow it up. On turn 1, the charges go off on roll of 4-5 (D6). For turns 2+, the charges detonate on a 3-6. The game also allows for the Germans to recapture bridges and attempt to re-wire the charges. I suspect the Allied engineers will be very busy rebuilding bridges this game. The Arnhem and Nijmegen bridges can not be blown - you saw they movie and the charge didn't go off!
Here is the US 82nd Airborne's drop area. General Gavin has been criticized for not moving more aggressively on the Nijmegen during the initial landings - theres some truth to that but he also had to contend with the 406th German infantry division just off map which was perfectly poised to overrun his drop zones.
The last airborne division is the 101st and their associated drop zone. Im hoping the drops here go well as I want this divisions to move on Eindhoven (to the left) ASAP to help get 30 Corps moving.
The 4th and final area is the front line where 30 Corp will try to break out along a very narrow front. There are some special rules that govern traffic and mobility that will be explained as I encounter them. It will be a tough operation. The light green terrain is called "Polder" (think bog) and is a no-go for mechanized units. Maybe I can get Michael Caine to roll the dice for my 30 Corps attacks - I'll need all the help I can get.
Initial Drop Results:
1st Airborne: The drop rolls were pretty good - only two units rolled poorly "Scattered" but each rolled a 6 so also took a step loss. Step losses for airborne units on the initial drop go into a replacement pool so they get those back eventually. Johnny Frost and his 2nd Para are well situated to make a run to Arnhem. Lets hope we get lucky and the railway bridge doesn't go boom.
Landing Grade: B+
82nd Airborne: The drops rolls for the 82 were excellent - just one unit scattered but no step losses. The only downside is the scatted battalion is one of two the can launch an attack on Nijmegen early. This shouldn't be too big of an issue but we'll see.
Landing Grade: A-
101st Airborne: Well lady luck finally caught up to me and the drop rolls for the 101st didn't go so well with 3 scatters and 2 step losses.
Landing Grade B-
All in all it could have been worse.
Now to re-read the rules one more time and get turn 1 done
Until next time
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