NEWS FLASH TO ALL ALLIED FORCES AND HOME-FRONTS:
After spending the night of Sept. 18 and early morning of Sept. 19 racing up the last stretch of the just-cleared Hell’s Highway, XXX Corps crosses Nijmegen Bridge in preparation for…
…Traversing the swampy ground located between the Waal and Rhine rivers, known as “The Island" along the last stretch of road between Nijmegen and their final objective of Arnhem...
…spearheaded by the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade, who as seen above and below landed on the boggy ground of "The Island,” reached the South end of Arnhem Bridge and at approx. 0700/0800 Hours on Sept. 19 began to cross it in support of the last remaining survivors of the British 2nd Battalion, 1st Parachute Regt., 1st Parachute Division -- now reduced to Company strength and holding on by the skin-of-their-teeth inside one building adjacent to the North end of the bridge...
Last of the "Red Devils" in Arnhem:
Polish Paras advance across the bridge:
And then 3 turns later, at 1000 Hours Sept 19 game time & date, the advance element of XXX Corps rumbles across Arnhem Bridge…
Sherman Bulldozer takes point as spearhead of XXX Corps reaches North portion of Arnhem Bridge, with recently installed Polish Paras visible on rooftop to right...
...achieving VICTORY for the Allied Forces!
In REAL TIME Game was played from SATURDAY c.10:45AM to c.10:00PM w/breaks for lunch & dinner… then from SUNDAY c.10:00AM to 12:52PM, when XXX Corps reached Arnhem Bridge
In addition to RJ, Frank, Mark & myself, I believe we had a total of 10 players participate over the 2 days.
Eindhoven post-liberation by 101st Airborne & XXX Corps...
First successful air support attack on Germans in Arnhem...
Views of Nijmegen with its Medieval walls and tower...
Casualty collection point for the Hell's Highway table some 3-1/2 hours into the game, c.2:00PM Saturday afternoon...
ARNHEM BRIDGE...
RED CHIPS used to denote FIRE ORDER per AFV and/or INFANTRY UNIT as per FIRE AND MANEUVER WW2 rules...
THE HELL'S HIGHWAY TABLE, seen from its North-West corner...
ARNHEM TABLE IN FOREGROUND, HELL'S HIGHWAY TABLE visible in background...
Hell's Highway table seen from long Western edge...
XXX Corps staged to cross Nijmegen Bridge headed North...
XXX Corps visible atop Nijmegen Bridge heading into the swampy, boggy stretch of Holland located between Nijmegen and Arnhem and known as "The Island"...
German Naval Infantry move to attack British Glider troops near the Western edge of the battlefield on the far end of the Arnhem table...
To the East, Kampfgruppe Brinkmann’s 10SS try to retake Arnhem bridge from the north on the morning of the 18th in an effort to rescue the trapped crew from Grabner’s (9th SS recon bn.) failed bridge crossing from the south...
Master modeller Mark "Duke" Deliduka, without whom the tables would not have been ready in time for the game to start on schedule...
Me & my son, Skylar. He served as co-commander of XXX Corps on Saturday...
Game Master Nappy who wishes to remain anonymous...
Wider view of Der Napster...
Group pic c.1100 Sunday, at the conclusion of the epic conflagration, featuring from far left: FRANK PATTERSON, CHRIS 82ND, KEN 101ST, GM NAPPY, ME, ALEX THE GERMAN...
VIDEO TOUR OF THE BATTLEFIELD COURTESY OF FRANK "'BAMA" PATTERSON...
I SHALL RETURN WITH MORE PICS AND MORE DETAILED AAR FOR THE EPIC GAME BUT FOR NOW I WANT TO POST THIS SO MANY PEOPLE WHO ARE CLAMORING FOR PICS AND SOME INFO ON THE RESULTS CAN GET THEM ASAP.......
Thanks to JG Randall, Rod, Frank "’bama" Patterson, Mark "Duke" Deliduka, Matthew who printed all the charts & terrain labels, and to Harmon "HMGS-PSW" Ward for getting us the spot we wanted and all the many MANY tables we needed to make this game possible!
Also thanks to ALL THE PLAYERS who showed up and stuck to it, including but not limited to:
Alex the German
Bill XXX Corps co-commander
Ken of the 101st
Mark of the 82nd
My son Skylar XXX Corps co-commander
Our buddy Matthew the German (in player mode!)
Patrick the British Para
Theron of British Glider fame
Chris the German
...& last but not least, the big guy who stepped up and ran the British Paras for the latter stages of the game, whose name I sadly do not know!
A surprise allied victory! A very impressive 2 table game!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Anonymous!
ReplyDeleteWow!
ReplyDeleteWhat a massive undertaking in 28mm, absolutely beautiful! This looks and sounds like huge fun. I’m looking forward to seeing your official AAR. I’d also be interested in reading the rules you used. I’ve been partial to Rapid Fire the past 10 or more years, and now Rapid Fire Reloaded. However, one of our club made his own set we use that works very well called Tactical Combat, which should be on the market soon.
ReplyDeleteBack in the day Bill Moreno with assistance from SMG did the whole Market Garden operation in 1/285, from start to finish with the all the bridges, towns, rivers, airborne drops etc. on a 36’ long table. IT WAS EPIC.