Operation Market Garden

From skies above, paratroopers descend,
Americans, Brits and Poles unite as one,
Their mission: Bridgeheads to transcend,
A path to victory till the war is won.
A daring leap, a gamble bold and fleet,
Crossing a river in boats task begun,
To seize the span a victory complete,
For Nijmegen's bridge, the prize that was won.
A bridge too far, a dream of a swift fight,
Desperate gamble at Arnhem’s fateful ground,
Young soldiers hopeful met with German might,
A bloody reckoning where valour was found.
Yet in their sacrifice a lesson learned,
A testament to valour fiercely burned.

Operation Market Garden was a daring Allied offensive in September 1944, aimed at outflanking German defences in the Netherlands and capturing key bridges across the Rhine River. The plan involved a massive Allied airborne assault followed by a rapid ground advance. While the initial airborne landings were largely successful, the subsequent ground operations by the British XXX Corps faced fierce resistance from German forces. The Allies were unable to secure all the necessary bridges in time, and their advance stalled just before the final bridge at Arnhem. Ultimately, Operation Market Garden was a costly failure, though it did tie up significant German resources.

The first game exploring 'OMG' is ‘Take that Bridge’, a simple fire and manoeuver exploration of the crossing of the bridges over the Wilhemina canal south of Eindhoven by a company of the 101st Airborne division defended by an unknown number of German soldiers that are revealed as the game progresses. Ideal as a solo game, there are six boards and three level of German troops to choose from in the game,making a large number of variants. The game is a variation on a scenario devised by Phil Sabin and complements ‘Take That Hill’.

https://www.fightclubinternational.org/take-that-hill-old

The second and third games explore the actions at Nijmegen (82nd Airborne and XXX Corps) and Arnhem (1st British Airborne and XXX Corps). These are based on the historical scenarios, and a series of counterfactual battles exploring alternative actions.

Both ‘504 PIR’ (Nijmegen) & ‘Every Man an Emperor’ (Arnhem) use a novel mapping and combat system. The original 1943 US Army maps of the area are reduced to tiles representing degrees of cover from ‘open’ to ‘dense urban’ and includes the rivers and bridges required to be seized and held by the Allies. Counters represent company level units fight using a novel combat system of dueling dice and solo attacks tied to a game time that matches the attrition rate seen in the real battles. The counter factual battles explore what would happen if German reinforcements had arrived earlier at each battle and if XXX Corps had arrived creating three scenarios for each battle that's depend upon the results in the other game!