Operation Comet - 5 October 2013

Just over three years since Jonathan and James wargamed the Arnhem battle over two days (see blog entry for write-up, photos and video), Jonathan had put together another impressive table of figures, vehicles, buildings and scenery for us to play Operation Comet.

Prior to Operation Market Garden, Montgomery had suggested Operation Comet, a limited airborne coup de main operation that was to be launched on 2 September 1944.  Comet envisioned using the 1st Airborne Division, along with the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade, to secure several bridges over the River Rhine to aid the Allied advance into the North German Plain.  The Divisional Headquarters for the 1st Airborne Division, with the 1st Airlanding Brigade and the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade were to land at Nijmegen, 1st Parachute Brigade was to land at Arnhem, and 4th Parachute Brigade was to land at Grave.  However several days of poor weather and Montgomery's concerns over increasing levels of German resistance caused him to postpone the operation and then cancel it on 10 September.

So to find out what would have happened, Jonathan and James attacked Nijmegen, which was being defended by Kieron and Orhan.

The Brits had to capture the bridge at Grave and the road bridge at Nijmegen (on right) and then attempt to control the road in between to enable ground troops to drive eastwards.  They had two main landing zones and a drop zone, but also dropped a glider each right next to the bridge objectives.

Jonathan's glider troops got shot up by the 88, which was then unsuccessfully close assaulted by those left.  The remaining soldier found refuge and kept his head down - but kept a British presence near the bridge.

James' first wave of parachutists landed but got decimated by Orhan's troops (only a training battalion but sadly still very capable of rolling sixes most of the time).

Fortunately, there were two more waves but Orhan's troops ensured that British progress was very slow.  But the glider landing near the Grave bridge was successful, and once the 88 and 20mm pieces were neutralized, the bridge was taken.

Soon, German reinforcements were arriving from the Fatherland, firstly half-tracks which made a bliztkreig attack by driving right up to British infantry and then engaging in close assaults.

This was followed by a Panzer IV, and the British defensive line south of Nijmegen started to get worn down.

Kieron's German reinforcements had less effect - they arrived into a farmhouse complex, and were rapidly hit by Jonathan's mortars and pressed into a defensive position.  Jonathan's troops had dug in around the village of Beek and along the hedgerows - although they themselves were thinned out by German off-table artillery.

The German reinforcements started to push the British defensive line apart.

We didn't play very quickly and got to turn 6 of the 8 turns in Day 1 (so Day 2's reinforcements didn't even get a look in...).

One of the British Jeeps made a last dash towards the Nijmegen road bridge, getting as far as the cross-roads in the centre of town.

The battle had swung back and forward all day.  There wasn't a clear victory.  The Brits had taken the Grave bridge and many of the buildings in the town, but the Germans still occupied the factory and killed many of the paras occupying buildings in the final turn.  There were still a lot of paras on the edge of Nijmegen but could they take the final bridge and town by nightfall?

The Germans were hanging on in Nijmegen and their reinforcements from Germany had changed the position south of the town significantly.  But tomorrow morning would bring British armour and reinforcements from the West.  Would they save the day or would the Germans ensure this was a bridge too far?

Here's a short video showing the table at the end of the game.

Tikal II - 25 September 2013

Third play of Tikal II - the pyramid exploration game with canoes going around the river.  Some nice mechanisms and good production values makes for a good game.  Final scores David 146, Stuart 133, James 132 and Andy 111.

Show and Tell, 22 September: Austrian Jaegers

This last month I've supplemented my Austrians with a couple of battalions of formed Jaegers (and an alternate skirmisher stand).  These Tyrolean skirmishers also could form up en masse.  They were well trained: at Leipzig "The 5th Jager Battalion formed square at a run (!), delivered a volley, and waited its fate with bayonets at the ready." (Nafziger - "Napoleon at Leipzig" p 229).  The uniform was pike grey with green facings, which earned them the nickname 'grey devils' amongst the French.

Village - 18th September 2013

A quick return to the excellent Village with the Village Inn expansion - this time for 5 players. Once again it was clear that no one strategy dominates and it is more a case of spotting opportunities and adapting to circumstances.

David and James chose to start with exploration. David put all his resources into building the most of the required carts in the first turn. James took a more steady approach and picked up some bonus cards from the inn to enhance the eventual rewards.

Adrian took an initial interest in the church and maintained superiority throughout the game, following up with exploration later. Kieron and Andy played the market, although Andy also took an interest in the council chambers.

Midway through the game confusion over a rule led to Andy requesting a rewind. After much debate we engaged Project Backstep take us back in time. Unlike the American project that goes back 7 days, the British equivalent only has sufficient fuel for a 10 minute reversal. Not much use for national security, but ok for a boardgaming crisis. Kieron's attempt to keep the argument going long enough to exceed our time travel limitations failed and Andy took his preferred action. The end result was Kieron earning even more at the market than he would have done and Andy berating David for taking his other preferred action. Be careful what you wish for....

Final score: Kieron 44, Adrian 44, David 41, James 41, Andy 30.

Extremely close with the tie-breaks based on number of market trades completed.  Great game!

Colours 2013

Andy and I spent a full day at Colours today at Newbury Racecourse.  Always a good show - three floors of traders and both demonstration and participation games, plus an extra building alongside this year.  The Bring & Buy remains a bit of a disappointment (long queue to check in stuff, and not enough tables to show what's for sale) but the rest of the show is great.

Highlights for me included a Battle for Kursk game with superb ruined buildings and this railway shed...

...and locomotive.

There was also a nicely-presented winter game:

A very delicately painted cloth forming the landscape for a 6mm game:

And a big Viking game:

...with a very impressive Viking longhouse:

Andy and I spent a happy hour playing Wings of Glory (the new name for Wings of War) in a participation game using four detailed aerial views.  I think I'd just got two hits on Andy's plane here:

Andy picked up two engine fires (quite impressive with only one engine - and well-represented using pipe cleaners) but we eventually managed to take each others' plane out simultaneously to finish the game.

Village - 11 September 2013

First time with five players on the Village with Village Pub extension.  Lots of different tactics to try with this game.  Orhan headed straight to the pub and recruited lots of useful characters, an approach which Kieron also picked up.  Stuart went to the top of the council chamber and set up a productive cycle of harvesting grain, selling grain for coins, and buying prestige.  James went travelling and half of David's family became vicars.

Before final scoring, Stuart was way ahead, but the rest of the gang collected more points and overtook him, ending up very close together.  Orhan took the lead from James in the last count.  Final scores: Orhan 62, James 60, David 57, Kieron 57, Stuart 49.

Industry - 4 September 2013

First play of James' birthday present from Kieron, Industry.  This is a four player maximum game revolving around bidding for and commissioning factories and technologies.  The bidding is a new system for us: the Auctioneer chooses which factory is up for auction, all other players bid once only, and then the Auctioneer either takes the money and auctions the next item, or matches the best bid and distributes the money across all players (including himself, somewhat peculiarly) but then passes on the Auctioneer role to the next player.

This mechanism leads to some interesting dilemmas, particularly since if you auction something that nobody bids on, you take it yourself - admittedly for free, but you've got no money in and have to pass the role on.  Or else you auction something you want and find yourself tempted to take the money rather than match the bid.  Very clever.

The various factories provide instant victory points or produce resources that can be used to commission future factories.  The added twist is that the final scoring is where most of the points come from - bonuses for factories that are connected by roads, or (if you have the corresponding bonus field - port, railway station, oil refinery or electricity locations) linked by rivers, railways, pipeline or power cables.  It's simpler than it sounds although the board is a bit busy and not always immediately obvious what is connected to what.  But it worked well and we enjoyed it.  It's much more of a Rivals game than the BGG score would suggest.

We were somewhat finding our way this first play - Orhan almost monopolised the port and rivers option early on, James spotted this and invested across the other bonus fields later, Stuart and Kieron were spread across a number of strategies.  Most of the scores were very close but James pulled ahead with the bonus fields really delivering in the final scoring.  James 52, Stuart 37, Kieron 34, Orhan 33.