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Storm Over Arnhem
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Storm Over Arnhem
Storm Over Arnhem is a board wargame published by Avalon Hill in 1981 that simulates part of Operation Market Garden, the Allied attempt to seize a bridgehead over the Rhine River at Arnhem during World War II. The game, which features an innovative game system, won a Charles S. Roberts Award.
In August 1944, two months after the D-Day landings, the Allies finally broke out of the Normandy peninsula, and German forces rapidly retreated across the Netherlands and France towards the Rhine River, a natural defense. The Allies knew German troops would blow up the bridges across the Rhine once their forces had crossed. Operation Market Garden was a bold attempt by the Allies to circumvent this by landing elements of the British 1st Airborne Division behind German lines on the far side of the Rhine River at the Dutch town of Arnhem on 18 September 1944. The paratroops would then hold the Arnhem bridge for two days until the British XXX Corps broke through the German line and arrived to secure the bridge. Unfortunately the Allied planners had underestimated the strength of German forces guarding the road to Arnhem, and Allied forces were unable to penetrate the German line. This left the paratroops on their own to defend the bridgehead against a German battalion and two SS Panzer divisions.
Storm Over Arnhem is a two-player wargame in which one player controls British forces and the other player controls German forces. The game is not an operational overview of the entire Allied offensive, but a tactical game similar in size to a scenario of Squad Leader. The game system has been deliberately simplified, requiring only nine pages of rules.
At the start of the game, fifty counters of British paratroops are in control of about one-third of the town of Arnhem, awaiting counterattacks from 70 German counters. The British player tries to hold on to as much of the town as possible to the end of the game while minimizing losses; the German player tries to push the British back and take control of the town. There are no smaller scenarios, only the 8-turn main game to be played, each turn counting as either six hours of daylight or twelve hours of night.
The map of the town of Arnhem is not overlaid with the traditional hex grid used by other games of the period; instead, the town has been divided into small polygonal areas, and movement is made from area to area.
An optional rule allows the players to make a secret bid on the right to play the British side. The winning bid is added to the German player's Victory Point total. For example, if the British player won with a bid of "4", the German player would start with 4 Victory Points. Negative bids — for example, "-2" — are allowed. If this was the successful bid, the German player would start the game with -2 Victory Points.
The British begin having control of twelve areas in the town — six on the perimeter, and six more centrally located. It is up to the British player to decide where to place units in these areas during initial set-up. Both players set up their initial forces secretly, the British player using the main map, and the German player using a smaller map. Once set up is complete, the German player moves their counters to the main map, and play begins.
During each turn, one player will have initiative — the player moves first — while the other player will have "tactical advantage" — at any time, the player can force a re-roll of all dice during a single combat, hoping to achieve a more favorable result. In doing so, the player must abide by the second set of dice rolls; and the players immediately trade tactical advantage and initiative. The German player by default starts each turn with initiative unless the British player has ceded "tactical advantage" to the German player during a previous turn, in which case the British player would have initiative.
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Storm Over Arnhem AI simulator
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Storm Over Arnhem
Storm Over Arnhem is a board wargame published by Avalon Hill in 1981 that simulates part of Operation Market Garden, the Allied attempt to seize a bridgehead over the Rhine River at Arnhem during World War II. The game, which features an innovative game system, won a Charles S. Roberts Award.
In August 1944, two months after the D-Day landings, the Allies finally broke out of the Normandy peninsula, and German forces rapidly retreated across the Netherlands and France towards the Rhine River, a natural defense. The Allies knew German troops would blow up the bridges across the Rhine once their forces had crossed. Operation Market Garden was a bold attempt by the Allies to circumvent this by landing elements of the British 1st Airborne Division behind German lines on the far side of the Rhine River at the Dutch town of Arnhem on 18 September 1944. The paratroops would then hold the Arnhem bridge for two days until the British XXX Corps broke through the German line and arrived to secure the bridge. Unfortunately the Allied planners had underestimated the strength of German forces guarding the road to Arnhem, and Allied forces were unable to penetrate the German line. This left the paratroops on their own to defend the bridgehead against a German battalion and two SS Panzer divisions.
Storm Over Arnhem is a two-player wargame in which one player controls British forces and the other player controls German forces. The game is not an operational overview of the entire Allied offensive, but a tactical game similar in size to a scenario of Squad Leader. The game system has been deliberately simplified, requiring only nine pages of rules.
At the start of the game, fifty counters of British paratroops are in control of about one-third of the town of Arnhem, awaiting counterattacks from 70 German counters. The British player tries to hold on to as much of the town as possible to the end of the game while minimizing losses; the German player tries to push the British back and take control of the town. There are no smaller scenarios, only the 8-turn main game to be played, each turn counting as either six hours of daylight or twelve hours of night.
The map of the town of Arnhem is not overlaid with the traditional hex grid used by other games of the period; instead, the town has been divided into small polygonal areas, and movement is made from area to area.
An optional rule allows the players to make a secret bid on the right to play the British side. The winning bid is added to the German player's Victory Point total. For example, if the British player won with a bid of "4", the German player would start with 4 Victory Points. Negative bids — for example, "-2" — are allowed. If this was the successful bid, the German player would start the game with -2 Victory Points.
The British begin having control of twelve areas in the town — six on the perimeter, and six more centrally located. It is up to the British player to decide where to place units in these areas during initial set-up. Both players set up their initial forces secretly, the British player using the main map, and the German player using a smaller map. Once set up is complete, the German player moves their counters to the main map, and play begins.
During each turn, one player will have initiative — the player moves first — while the other player will have "tactical advantage" — at any time, the player can force a re-roll of all dice during a single combat, hoping to achieve a more favorable result. In doing so, the player must abide by the second set of dice rolls; and the players immediately trade tactical advantage and initiative. The German player by default starts each turn with initiative unless the British player has ceded "tactical advantage" to the German player during a previous turn, in which case the British player would have initiative.