While Ken and I had played a lot of the General’s Wargame (a two-player boardgame adaption of Firestorm—­Market­Garden) and had run a campaign with the playtesters during development, we had never had the chance to run the whole of Firestorm—Market­Garden through from beginning to end. When the opportunity came to run the campaign for the Battlefront staff, we leapt at the opportunity.

Market gardenFirestorm—Market­Garden is a campaign based on Operation Market Garden, the Allied attempt in September 1944 to gain a crossing over the Lower Rhine after the break out from Normandy. The operation

was divided into two parts: Operation Market, the biggest airborne landing of the war, and Operation Garden, an attack by 30 Corps to link up with the paras holding the bridge across the Rhine at Arnhem.

Operation Market used two American airborne divisions to take and hold critical bridges across the rivers and canals between Eindhoven and Nijmegen, and a British airborne division to take the bridge across the Lower Rhine at Arnhem.

Operation Garden sent the Guards Armoured Division on a 64-mile (106km) advance through enemy territory, across the bridges that the US paratroopers

were to take, then on to meet up with the British airborne division at Arnhem.

What is Firestorm?Firestorm—Market­Garden is Battlefront Miniature’s second Firestorm campaign following on from Firestorm—Bagration. Like Bagration, Market Garden is a map-based campaign where the battles are fought out using the Flames­Of­War miniatures game. The generals (in this case Ken for the Allies and Phil for the Germans) operate at the strategic level on the map, while the players fight the tactical battles where they think they will have the most effect (hopefully following the orders of their commanding generals!)

FlexibilityThe goal in developing the Firestorm campaign structure was to allow players the maximum freedom in how and when they play games, while ensuring that the outcome of every game has a dramatic impact on the campaign. Whenever two

players get together to play a game, they look at the campaign map and decide where to fight the battle. The map tells them what extra troops to add to their normal Flames­Of­War forces, and suggests the type of terrain that the battle would be fought in. The players fight out

the battle and then move the pieces on the map to reflect the outcome.

When they want to fight another battle, they just pick another area on the map and fight away. Players can play as much or as little as they want, whether it be three or four games per week or even just one game in the whole campaign.

StrategyThe overall structure to the campaign is created by the strategic phase that happens once per campaign turn. We decided to play one campaign turn each week. With five campaign turns, that gave us a five-week campaign—short enough that everyone was eager to play and willing to commit the necessary time—and at the same time quick enough that they didn’t get distracted with other things before we finished.

At the end of each week’s gaming Ken and I got together to play out the strategic phase. This is where we got to display our strategic brilliance (or perhaps lack of it in my case). This is where the Allies conducted their airdrops, and both sides manoeuvred to exploit openings left by the enemy and to reinforce their troops where the battle looked most critical.

Battlefront Plays Its fIrestorm—market Garden CamPaIGn By Phil yates

FIRESTORM MARKET GARDENWhen the team at Battlefront finished their new firestorm campaign for operation market Garden, they tried it out on the rest of the staff. the result was five weeks of gaming fun. Phil served as the German general (despite fighting on the British side!) and kept notes and wrote up the highlights of the campaign and its battles.

ATTN: NEEDS NZ FLAG

TOKEN SIZE

1:100 (15mm) Scale Model

Board dimensions: 22”/55cm x 48”/120cm

British XII Corps12 Corps protects the left flank of 30 Corps, or takes the lead bypassing Eindhoven to take S’Hertogenbosh.

British XXX Corps30 Corps has the shortest route to Arnhem from Joe’s Bridge, their bridgehead over the Meuse-Escaut Canal.

Eindhoven30 Corps first goal is the town of Eindhoven. While the Germans hold this, they can cut any route north with ease.

US 101st AirborneThe ‘Screaming Eagles’ task is to capture the bridges on ‘Hell’s Highway’ between Eindhoven and Nijmegen.

30 Corps’ tanks can push over secured bridges to launch attacks, racing to Nijmegen.

CounterattacksGerman reinforcements and replacements arrive from the six supply depots to strengthen the defences or to counterattack and cut off the British spearhead.

US 82nd AirborneThe ‘All Americans’ have to take and hold Nijmegen. To do so, they have to hold the Groesbeek Heights or face massive German counterattacks from Kleve.

British 1st AirborneThe ‘Red Devils’ have the toughest job. They have to take and hold Arnhem Bridge across the Lower Rhine River until 30 Corps can relieve them. Fighting alone, they will be under intense pressure.

NijmegenThe Nijmegen bridge across the Waal River is the last major obstacles between 30 Corps and Arnhem. If the ‘All Americans’ can take them before 30 Corps arrive, the battle is as good as won.

Arnhem BridgeArnhem Bridge is the ultimate prize. If 30 Corps can cross Arnhem Bridge, they have a free run into north Germany and end the war by Christmas.

SuppliesThe three airborne divisions can only be supplied by air until 30 Corps reaches them. Unless the weather is perfect for airdrops, shortages are going to be a constant problem.

Five-turn CampaignThe Allies have just five turns to reach Arnhem before the paras run out of supply. We played one turn per week.

British VIII Corps8 Corps protects the right flank from counterattacks out of the Ruhr, clearing a secondary supply route.

FIRESTORM—MARKET GARDEN

506th PIREindhoven was the target Ken had set for the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. Immediately on landing they crossed the Wilhelmina Canal to get into position, using one of their two Supply Markers.

502nd PIRThe 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment landed north of Uden and immediately cut the Heesch Road to cover the left flank of the 101st Airborne Division at Nijmegen. This movement cost them one of their two Supply Markers.

501st PIRKen tasked the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment with capturing S’Hertogenbosh to cut German communications between Amsterdam and Rotterdam to stop the Germans from reinforcing attacks on Eindhoven.

504th PIRKen landed the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment on DZ-O, intending to use them to seize the vital Maas-Waal Canal Bridge and prepare for the assault on Nijmegen itself. They couldn’t exploit into the area as it contains a bridge.

Immediately after landing two regiments, he used one of the two Supply Markers they landed with to exploit into vacant ar-eas. The other two regiments had to wait until the turn began to assault the bridges they were after.

American AirdropsInstead of focusing on Hell’s High-way and Groesbeek Heights as the historical landings did, Ken went after S’Hertogenbosh on the western flank, Eindhoven in the south, and Nijmegen in the north. A bold strategy, but risky if German reserves arrive from Kleve before the ‘All Americans’ can secure the Groesbeek Heights, as they will then be able to reinforce Nijmegen unopposed.

1st Airlanding BdeKen landed the 1st Airlanding Brigade on the landing zone north of the Utrecht-Arnhem Road, then cut the road to link the landing zones and threaten Arnhem from the west, using one of his Supply markers to do so. This leaves the brigade in a good position for the British players to attack the Security forces in Arnhem West. Success here would secure the flanks of the Oosterbeek route to the bridge.

1st Parachute Bde1st Parachute Brigade dropped on DZ-X south of the road and exploited into Oosterbeek ready to assault the Arnhem Bridge using one of the Supply Markers they landed with.

1st Airlanding Brigade’s linking of the two landing zones, they still have access to two Supply Markers, one from their own DZ-X and one from LZ-S across the Ede Road.

Ken considered his strategy, and elected to follow history with the British air-drops, landing both the 1st Airlanding and 1st Parachute Brigades on the first day of operations with the intention of sending the Parachute Brigade after Arnhem Bridge.

British AirdropsAs we were playing the A Bridge Too Far scenario, Ken could choose where he would land his airborne divisions. With enough air transport to land six forma-tions, he decided to land four American regiments and two British brigades.

Each of these formations is shown on the map as a single Firestorm unit represent-ing the focus of the formation’s efforts for the turn.

Airborne SupplyAirborne units are entirely dependent on airdrops for their supply, so they land with two Supply Markers. They use these to occupy empty enemy-controlled areas, and to attack and defend themselves.

One of the unique things about Firestorm campaigns is the way that players interact with the campaign map.

Campaign TurnsThe key idea is having campaign turns last for a certain amount of time (usually a week) and allowing players to play as many or as few games as they want in each turn. Active players might play three, four or even five games in a week, while a less involved player might only play a couple of games in the whole campaign. In our case we had a gaming session on Saturday afternoon and another on Wednesday evening. However in turn three, Saturday’s session had few players, so several players played extra games on Thursday and Friday as well.

Playing GamesWhen two players want to play a campaign game, they roll to see who has the initiative. That player then goes to the campaign map and decides where they think they can make the biggest

contribution. They place a battle arrow on the map to show where they are fighting, and place any Firestorm troops they want to use on the arrow—booking them out so that no one else can use them while the game is in progress. These Firestorm troops give bonus platoons to the players’ normal forces, so for example, a Sherman Firestorm token gives the player an extra platoon of Sherman tanks.

Firestorm TroopsUsing the Firestorm troops as additional forces like this allows players to be flexible. They don’t have to have the ‘right’ force for the game, and can fight battles in totally different parts of the map as they see fit. As an example, I took my Desert Rats Armoured Squadron in most games, including one where I was fighting a battle in Arnhem with British paras as my Firestorm troops. This might not work for the purists, but it lets your average player participate in the campaign and make a difference to the outcome.

SupplyThe key driver of the campaign is the need to keep your forces in supply. Players fighting battles without an open supply line suffer effects ranging from poor morale and reduced points available for their force to a ‘do-or-die’ morale increase if they are really lucky. This focuses the battles on either pushing for objectives, or attempting to cut supply routes and isolate forces to make them easier targets for future games.

Winning and LosingWhen a player wins a battle, they keep the area they were in and get to get to take their opponent’s area. This happens whether they had the initiative or not, so launching an ill-advised attack can lose you ground. Any troops in the area lost retreat to adjacent friendly areas, and the victorious player can move in and occupy their new area. If you are able to play another game this turn, you can use these advancing troops to attack into another area, hopefully capturing another area.

The campaign opened on a Saturday afternoon with twelve players. Since the Allies get a +1 on their initiative rolls in the first turn, they got to choose where most of the battles were fought (shown

with dark green and grey arrows). Unfor-tunately abysmal generalship (and being outnumbered in most of their games) saw the Germans defeated in all but one game.

Wednesday night saw eight players turn up. The Allies won every initiative allow-ing them to choose the location of every battle, then proceeding to win them all!

SurroundedDespite only having a couple of bridge-defence anti-aircraft guns to reinforce him against the paratroopers’ attack, Chris managed to win. The paratroopers had nowhere to retreat and would have been wiped out, but they used their last Supply Marker to fight on rather than surrendering.

SupplyWhenever airborne Firestorm troops attack or defend they must use a Supply Marker. If they are adjacent to the drop zone, they can use the Supply Marker to get parachute artillery support too.

Destroy TroopsThe fighting for the Weert Road was particularly brutal. The British lost the Sextons of 11th Armoured Division and the Germans lost the paratroops of Division Erdmann. Both of these Firestorm troops were sent to their side’s Reinforcement Pool.

Victory PointsThe US paratroopers took 20 Victory Points off the Germans by capturing Eindhoven and S’Hertogenbosh.

RetreatKyran’s attack on the XII Corps supply depot was beaten off with the aid of two armoured brigades costing the Germans possession of Budel. Kyran retreated the half-tracks of SS-KG Heinke to Aalst. Von der Heydte’s paratroops had to follow.

AdvanceAfter his victory at Valkenswaard Mike moved the Typhoon and Sherman into that area and reinforced them with the Shermans of 8 Armoured Brigade. Blake retreated Von der Heydte’s paratroops to Budel.

Armoured AdvanceWhen gaming began again on Wednesday evening, Mike was first up again and attacked from Eindhoven to the Son Bridge, using the road to bring the Shermans up from Valkenswaard for the attack. Sherman and Sexton firestorm troops can move two areas by road to attack or defend another area.

InitiativeMike, playing on the Allied side, won the roll for initiative over Blake playing on the German side. This gave Mike the choice of where the battle would be fought.

Battle ArrowMike elected to start the battle with an attack up the Valkenswaard Road. To show this he placed a Battle Arrow from the 30 Corps bridgehead at Joe’s Bridge to the Valkenswaard Road.

Firestorm troops30 Corps has five Firestorm troops available, the Shermans and Sextons of the Guards Armoured Division, and 8 Armoured Brigade and the 5.5” guns of the 43rd (Wessex) Division, backed by RAF Typhoon fighter-bombers. Mike picks the Typhoons and the Shermans of the Guards Armoured Division to lead the attack.

German DefendersBlake has only two choices, commit the Fallschirmjäger (paratroops) in Valkenswaard to the battle, or hold them back in case a more serious attack develops. This one looks serious, so Blake commits them to the battle.

The StakesThe winner takes all, so if Mike wins he takes Valkenswaard and advances ready for the next battle. Blake can’t take the XXX Corps supply depot, but he gets 10 Victory Points if he wins the battle instead.

VICTORY POINTS

GERMAN 276

ALLIED 50

Captured Area

Wednesday

Saturday Saturday

Allied AttAcks GermAn AttAcks

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2

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ThE ANATOMy OF A TuRN ThE OpENING TuRN

Stand at EindhovenOn Saturday Damian’s Fallschirmjäger beat Phil’s attack from Valkenswaard, pushing him back to 30 Corps start line, but were destroyed on Wednesday by Sean’s paratroopers attacking from Son.

Beaten BackBack for a last-minute battle on Friday, Casey tried to extend his gains to Tilburg, only to be beaten by Ken. Casey’s troops retreated back to 12 Corps start line—a small high point at the end of a bad German turn.

The third week was a campaign organiser’s nightmare. I arrived on Saturday morning and no one else was there. Three more players turned up soon after, so we played two games, On Monday, everyone gave their excuses,

but promised to turn up on Wednesday and, exploiting the flexibility of the weekly turn system in Firestorm—Market­Garden, arranged to play more games on Thursday and Friday. So, despite a slow start we managed eleven games in the week.

AirdropWith only three airdrops available, Ken flew the US 327th Glider Regiment into DZ-Y above Arnhem, the 508th PIR into DZ-T, and dropped supplies to the hard-pressed 504th PIR.

BreakoutWith the troops in Helmond tied up defending themselves, the only troops left in a position to take Eindhoven were the Fallschirmjäger and SS in Aalst. Victor launched this desperate attack and won.

12 CorpsCasey launched the last attack of Wednesday night on the 12 Corps front setting up an attack on Tilburg to cut off the entire German western flank from supplies.

Things looked good at the start of gaming for Saturday on the second week. Only six players were available, and of the three games, the Germans won the initiative twice allowing them to set up a serious pincer attack on Eindhoven.

Unfortunately, their performance on the wargames tables was patchy and it didn’t come off.

Wednesday’s gaming session was busier with five games, but this time the Allies

won the initiative on four and used the opportunity to win more battles and open a route to Nijmegen. The only bright point for the Germans was Victor’s capture of Eindhoven, but this was nullified by Mike reopening the Helmond Road.

ExploitationThe Allies used the exploitation phase to reoccupy Oosterbeek, secure the Groesbeek Heights (just ahead of the German reserves), and link up with their airborne forces (shown with blue arrows).

PincerThe Germans responded by creating powerful counterattack forces on the Venray road and the Wilhelmina Canal aimed at Eindhoven. Good initiative rolls on Saturday morning allowed German players to make these attacks, but the US paratroopers in Eindhoven held out with the aid of Sextons rushed up the road from Valkenswaard.

CounterattackOn the Wednesday night the British responded by attacking Venray Road to cut off the force in Helmond and then attacked Helmond winning both fights and ending the pincer threat.

ReinforcementsThe Germans received massive reinforcement everywhere but the Ruhr (where the RAF was interdicting all routes) in the Strategic Step. These reinforced Arnhem and prepared to cut the corridor at Eindhoven.

Overloon AttacksIn the Strategic Step 107. Panzer Brigade and the rebuilt Erdmann Division arrived from the Ruhr. Chris attacked the Gemert Road on Wednesday to cut off the British spearhead, but was defeated with the help of Sherman tanks rushed from Erp and Grave. He attacked again on Thursday retaking Overloon.

Fighting RetreatA force of Königstiger heavy tanks cut off in Deurne tried to cut the Weert Road. They must have fallen back on their workshops in the previous retreat as they suffered no penalty for being out of supply. Despite this, they lost, fought again on Thursday, lost again and retreated to the Maas Bridges guarding the Ruhr.

Elst RoadThe Polish Parachute Brigade landed at Driel and occupied the Elst Road, cutting the German forces in Nijmegen off from supply. When Blake won the initiative for the Germans on Wednesday night, Phil demanded that he clear the Elst Road to protect the Nijmegen Bridges!

Nijmegen BridgeThe Pole’s exploitation into Elst put the defenders in Nijmegen out of supply. Fighting with reduced morale, the Germans lost the Maas-Waal Canal Bridges on Saturday. Although still out of supply on Wednesday, a good roll saw their morale soar (perhaps they knew of the relief attempt?) Despite this, they still lost Nijmegen itself. Shermans flooding up Hell’s Highway attempted a last push across the Nijmegen Bridge on Thursday, but Ken, now in supply, pushed them back and out of Nijmegen.

VICTORY POINTS

GERMAN 226

ALLIED 100

VICTORY POINTS

GERMAN 256

ALLIED 70

Airdrop

Captured Area

Wednesday

Saturday

Wednesday

Saturday

Exploitation

Allied AttAcks GermAn AttAcks

Airdrop

Captured Area

Friday

Thursday

Wednesday

Saturday

Thursday

Wednesday

Exploitation

Allied AttAcks GermAn AttAcks

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TuRN 3—EINDhOvEN & NIjMEGENTuRN 2—ThE COuNTERATTACK

Always the optimist, I figured that a few good battles would turn the tide back in the German’s favour. Ken’s strategic activity on Friday night soon dampened my enthusiasm when he covered the map in green tokens as his troops mopped

up areas devoid of my Firestorm troops, separating my forces into isolated pockets.

Still, the real proof would come on Saturday when the players got down to

On the fourth week, Saturday’s games started well for the Germans. Some good initiative rolls set up a nice pincer attack on Eindhoven, ready to cut the Allied advance off at its base. The German players even seemed to be winning their games!

Unfortunately, the only German loss of the day was the critical attack on Eindhoven. Wednesday was the reverse. The Allies won most of the initiative rolls, and then won or drew every battle taking them into the lead for the first time.

Last StandPlaying for the Germans this time, James reinforced his defence of Bakel with a Fallschirmjäger platoon, leaving the Panther platoon free to counterattack. Unfortunately, no one took advantage of the opportunity. Facing Casey’s army reinforced with two Sexton batteries from his Firestorm troops, James lost and the Panthers were captured anyway. Unfortunately, having nowhere to retreat, they were permanently destroyed gaining the Allies an extra 16 Victory Points!

Mopping UpKen continued his plan of mopping up undefended pockets in the exploitation phase. The last thing he wanted at this stage was a sneak German attack coming out of nowhere to cut his supply lines.

A Little RespectIn a day of otherwise unmitigated disasters for the German players, Blake managed to pull out a win defending the Vught Bridges and holding on to a few more Victory Points for the Germans. The fact that they are out of supply halves their value, but at this point Phil was glad of any crumbs he could get!

Disaster!Ken reinforced Arnhem West and Nijmegen Bridge, then instructed the Allied players to ‘finish the job’. This they did in fine style winning all three battles and making a convincing bridgehead across the Lower Rhine.

Last GaspThe troops sitting at Kleve finally attacked under Chris’s command. Victory here would set up a last-round game to retake Nijmegen and isolate the forces across the Waal.Ironically, Phil was defending the Groesbeek Heights against Chris. Despite his usual inability to consistently win games against others, Phil easily defeated Chris (as often seems to happen) and in doing so dashed his strategic hopes as the German general!

Pushing NorthAs both the 8.8cm guns and Königstiger Firestorm troops were variable troops, Mike had to roll to see what they actually were when the US paratroopers attacked. They turned out to be a platoon of StuG assault guns and one of 8.8cm guns to reinforce his force. However, this was not enough to stop James’ force reinforced with a parachute rifle platoon and some Sherman tanks from his Firestorm troops.

Air DropsThe air force continued its run of limited availability with only two airdrops this turn. Ken used them to fill in gaps and isolate the last German forces in the centre of the board.

StretchedThe German forces around Arnhem were starting to get very stretched. The Königstiger and 8.8cm anti-aircraft guns Firestorm troops had been sent south to defend Nijmegen Bridge, leaving the SS-Panzer troops to hold the Elst Road, and more 8.8cm guns and some security forces to hold the paras out of Arnhem. This they did, gaining a draw to hold the city.

Sitting IdleMuch to Phil’s annoyance, the large force building up from Kleve sat idle the whole turn as the German players were forced to dance to the Allied tune.

PincerThe German focus was a renewal of the attacks on Eindhoven. Success here would put the whole Allied advance out of supply. Hard fought games allowed the Allies to increase their bridgehead instead.

Risky GamblePhil stuck his neck out, moving the reinforcements arriving from Rotterdam across the Albert Ca-nal and up the narrow road still in German hands, hoping one of the player’s could use this force to take Eindhoven.

ExploitationContinuing to use his exploit-ation moves well, Ken set up his player’s attacks by cutting off supplies to more German forces and reducing the number of places they could launch sneak attacks from.

the gaming. We had the biggest session yet with twelve players turning up, but it was a disaster for the Germans. Once again, the Allies won most of the initiative rolls and set about taking Arnhem. Their performance on the gaming tables was spectacular and the thrust to Arnhem succeeded with barely a hitch!

VICTORY POINTS

GERMAN 64

ALLIED 268

VICTORY POINTS

GERMAN 160

ALLIED 166

Airdrop

Captured Area

Wednesday

Saturday

Wednesday

Saturday

Exploitation

Allied AttAcks GermAn AttAcks

Airdrop

Captured Area

Saturday Saturday

Exploitation

Allied AttAcks GermAn AttAcks

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TuRN 5—MOppING upTuRN 4—ThE TIDE TuRNS

The­German­forces­of­SS-Kampfgruppe­Spindler­and­Kampfgruppe­von­Tettau­launch­their­counterattack­into­Arnhem.­After­four­hours­of­intense­gaming,­Mike­and­Ken­pushed­the­last­of­the­British­paratroops­out­of­Arnhem.

Kyran’s­paratroopers­from­the­82nd­‘All­American’­Airborne­Division­formed­the­first­line­of­resistance­to­the­German­attempts­to­retake­Nijmegen­Bridge.­Although­they­were­initially­pushed­back,­a­counterattack­supported­by­Jeremy’s­glider­men­held­out­in­the­end.­

Ken’s thoughtsI asked Ken about his strategy and how he fought the campaign. Here are his thoughts on Firestorm—Market­Garden.

My­strategy­was­threefold.­First­we­needed­to­secure­the­road­

to­Eindhoven­as­that­is­

After four weeks of hard-fought gaming, things looked grim for the Germans after Saturday’s games. They had lost every major objective on the table, and were over 200 Victory Points behind the Allies.

Nothing but the recapture of Nijmegen and Arnhem could redeem their field commanders in the eyes of Hitler. The situation was desperate! After talking things through, Ken and I agreed to stake everything on one last battle. Whoever

won this would win the campaign.

Looking at the campaign map, there were four German and five Allied Firestorm units in a position to dispute the key Arnhem and Nijmegen bridges. The Allies had two parachute units on each bridge and an armoured brigade on the Elst Road between them. The Germans had the Panther tanks of 107.­Panzerbrigade and Von der Heydte’s Fallschirmjäger regiment west of Nijmegen and 506.­Schwere­Panzer­Abteilung (heavy tank battalion) and some security troops from SS-Kampfgruppe­Spindler east of Arnhem.

We set up a long table with Nijmegen at one end and Arnhem at the other.

Normally Firestorm troops add bonus units

to your

regular force, but for this game, we wanted to model the Firestorm units themselves, so we then told each player to form a company based on a Firestorm unit. We used the Total War multi-player rules from Battlefront’s website (www.Battlefront.com under Hobby, Rules Updates and Downloads) to keep everything moving smoothly in a big game.

When everyone was ready, we set to for a gigantic battle that lasted until midnight. The fighting split into separate battles for each bridge with the Armoured Squadron trying to support both. In the end the attack on Nijmegen drew most of the tanks and ended in a bloody German defeat. However, they did buy just enough time for the Germans to retake Arnhem, changing the outcome of the campaign from a clear

Allied Strategic Victory to merely a Tactical Victory! the­best­way­to­push­30­Corps’­armour­

forward.­This­we­did­on­turn­one,­though­it­was­a­bit­dicey­over­the­next­few­turns­in­keeping­the­supply­routes­open­and­the­troops­moving­forward.

The­second­objective­was­to­secure­the­bridge­at­Nijmegen.­The­playtest­campaigns­seemed­to­be­won­or­lost­on­whether­or­not­the­Allies­can­get­the­

­Nijmegen­Bridge­and­hold­it­until­the final turns. Once you

have­it,­having­

both­armour­and­paratroopers­in­the­area­allows­you­to­defeat­most­German­counterattacks.

Finally,­the­third­goal­was­to­build­up­the­British­paratroopers­north­of­the­Rhine for a final attempt at securing the Arnhem­Bridge.­The­victory­points­for­Arnhem­are­really­the­difference­between­a­strategic­and­operational­victory.­The­Allied­players­did­really­well­in­winning­so­many­battles,­and­if­we­could­have held both bridges in the final big

battle­we­would­have­won­a­strategic­victory,­ending­the­war­by­

Christmas!

TOTAl WAR—ThE FINAl BATTlE