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Fireball Forward: Operation MercuryClick to magnify

Fireball Forward: Operation Mercury

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Operation Mercury: A disastrous victory is a Fireball Forward scenario book that covers the largest airborne assault that had been made during World War II at the time it was launched by the Germans in May, 1941.  Twelve scenarios cover the action on the first three days of the battle that capture the struggle between German Fallschirmjägers of the 7th Flieger Division and the Allied defenders that had been recently evacuated from Greece.  The Allied force, known as Creforce, was composed of British, New Zealand, Australian and Greek troops, most of which were lacking heavy equipment and supplies.

The German assault consisted of both glider landings and paradrops on key German objectives that were to lead to the capture of at least one of three operational airfields on Crete.  The capture of an airfield was key to bringing in reinforcements to the support the initial airborne landings.  In order to simulate the feel of an airborne assault, new Fireball Forward rules were developed to cover both glider and paradrop landings.  This includes the German practice of dropping their weapons in separate containers from their paratroopers, limiting their combat effectiveness until they were able to reach one of the dropped weapon containers.  The fighting was fierce and deadly, as the Allied troops put up a very strong defense.  They were also assisted by enraged civilians – the first time the Germans had encountered a strong resistance movement by the local population.

The Operation Mercury: A disastrous victory scenario book includes a historical summary, twelve scenarios, numerous player aids and Designer’s notes.

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Discussions (2)
Customer avatar
Joseph H January 23, 2024 4:44 am UTC
PURCHASER
Does this supplement work with Fireball Forward v3?
Customer avatar
Daniel B November 20, 2022 9:36 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Please could you clarify what the ground scale is for these scenarios...?
I cannot find any information about ground scale on the official Fireball Forward website.
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Customer avatar
Alex N December 05, 2022 12:54 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
Daniel,

The Fireball Foward rulebook states on page 2: "The game is intended for 15mm or 20mm scale but there are no strict basing requirements, and any scale can be used." There is exact scale given. As a scenario designer, and for the two scenario books I have published, I did have to adopt a scale so that I could scale the maps I used especially when I was using the exact terrain take from satellite photographs. So, I adopted a scale of 1 foot on the table equals 360 feet on the actual battlefield.

Alex
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Customer avatar
Daniel B December 05, 2022 2:22 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Dear Alex,
Thank you for your helpful reply.
Just to clarify: The Fireball Forward rules only make suggestions about suitable figures scales of 15mm tall (1:100) or 20mm tall (1:72) and say nothing about the ground scale of move distances and weapons ranges.
Did your decision to adopt a battlefield map ground scale of 1:360 have any relationship to weapons ranges in the Fireball Forward rules...?
Either way, I am thinking of using Fireball Forward scenario books with 'I Ain't Been Shot, Mum!' by Richard Clarke and Nick Skinner (Too Fat Lardies), where the ground scale is approximately 1:300, so your own scenario maps should be a good fit.
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Customer avatar
Alex N December 06, 2022 12:56 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
Daniel,

To be honest I do not remember exactly how I arrived at the scale I used for my books. I am sure it came from discussions we had over ten years ago when we were developing the rules. I joined the playtest group here near the end of the rules development and was asked to prepare a scenario book (I decided to do Mortain). I will see if I can get you a better answer.

Alex
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Customer avatar
Daniel B December 29, 2022 1:32 pm UTC
PURCHASER
It seems that the effective range of an M12 Garand rifle also suggests a ground scale of 1:360:
Gregory G. refers to the effective range of a standard 0.30 infantry rifle being between 10 inches and 30 inches.
According to the official US Army manual for the M1 Garand rifle referenced on Wikipedia, the effective range was between 300 yards and 500 yards:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_Garand#Features
30 inches to 300 yards would give a a ratio of 1:360 (which is the same as Alex N.s ground scale!).
30 inches to 500 yards would give a a ratio of 1:600 (which is the same as Sean Barnett's tank battle ground scale!).
https://www.wargamevault.com/product/417212/Burma-Masterstroke?src=hottest_filtered
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Product Information
Copper seller
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Pages
69
File Size:
11.3 MB
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File Last Updated:
August 29, 2022
This title was added to our catalog on August 31, 2022.
Publisher
Fireball Forward - White Post
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