First off, this series is being done as a bit of a lark as wargaming has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas so if anyone is offended, please just stop reading now.

On the 2nd day of Christmas War Gaming my true love gave to me…

2 Bridges Blowing

Holland ’44: Operation Market-Garden from GMT Games is a hex and counter wargame that focuses on the September 1944 invasion of German occupied Holland in an attempt by the Allies to secure a bridge head over the Rhine River leading into Germany itself. The game uses a system that has been used in 2 others games designed by Mark Simonitch, Normandy ’44 and Ardennes ’44, which is pretty simple to understand and provides realism in the various aspects that are being modeled.

In the game, at the start the German player has the option to do some damage to the bridges along Highway 69 (Hell’s Highway) in order to slow the Allied advance on their objectives which are the bridges at Eindhoven, Nijmegen and Arnhem. The Bridge Demolition is fairly simply as the German player will have to make a decision about when to blow each bridge as an Allied unit occupies the hex directly adjacent to the bridge. The German player will then make a roll on a 6 sided die and consult the Bridge Demolition Table. On a roll of 3-5, the bridge will be demolished and a marker will be placed on that bridge denoting that it cannot be used until it is rebuilt by Engineer units. On a roll of 1-2, the demolition failed and will not be able to be tried again until the German player resets the charges, which will take a turn. There is a difference on Turn 1 though that tries to simulate the concept of the Germans being taken by surprise. On Turn 1 only, there is a -1 DRM to these demolition attempts so they will only be blown on rolls of 4-6. I believe that this model is a good one for this game as the Germans did attempt to blow many of the bridges rather than lose them into Allied hands and allow for an unfettered crossing into occupied territory. The odds are generally such that the Allies can expect to have at least one crossable bridge over each of the major waterways along Hell’s Highway.

Here is our video review of Holland ’44: Operation Market-Garden, September 1944:

If you are interested in Holland ’44: Operation Market-Garden you will have to put in a P500 order for the 2nd Printing run, as the game is out of stock, and can do so at the following link: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-938-holland-44-2nd-printing.aspx

You can catch up on the posts in this series to date at the following links:

A Spotter in a Smokestack – Saipan: The Bloody Rock

-Grant