Storm Over Arnhem

Last updated

Storm Over Arnhem is a 1981 board wargame designed by Courtney F. Allen, published by the Avalon Hill game company, and depicts the battle for Arnhem bridge over the Lower Rhine river during Operation Market Garden in World War II. This battle was fought between elements of the British 1st Airborne Division and elements of the German Bocholt Battalion and 9th and 10th SS Panzer Divisions. The plan was for the airborne forces to seize and hold the Arnhem bridge for two days, before being relieved by the British XXX Corps. However, Operation Market Garden failed in numerous places, and the airborne troops were never relieved. They did however achieve more than their objective by capturing and holding the northern end of the Arnhem Bridge with some 700+ men for four days.

Contents

Game-play

Example of Storm Over Arnhem counters Stormoverarnhemcounters.jpg
Example of Storm Over Arnhem counters

The game recreates the fighting around the northern end of Arnhem bridge during the days of September 18 through September 21, 1944. One player controls the British units, while a second player controls the Germans.

Initial unit deployment is semi-free. For example, a certain number of SS units must be placed in each initial deployment zone, but the German player is free to choose which units he will put there.

The game is divided into a number of turns. A day turn is 6 hours, and a night turn is 12 hours, and there are three turns in a single day, 2 day turns and 1 night turn. Each turn is divided into 5 phases: Reinforcement & Reformed Units Phase, Random Events Phase, Movement/Fire Phase, Close Combat Phase and the Victory Point Determination Phase.

The Movement/Fire Phase consists of a number of player impulses, which means that during this phase a player can move or attack with his uncommitted units in a single area. An uncommitted unit differs from a committed unit by the fact that the latter is a unit that has already moved or attacked on that same turn, or that the unit has taken casualties or was forced to retreat on that turn. Players alternate impulses until there are no more uncommitted units, or both players pass their impulse. Next the close combat phase is played out for each area containing both British and German units.

The objective of the game is for the Germans to gain at least 22 victory point by the end of the last turn, to win a marginal victory, or for the British to withhold the Germans from those victory point. Victory points are allocated for every victory point area the German player occupies.

Game-board

The game-board is a map of the surroundings of the northern side of Arnhem bridge on a 1" = 100' scale and is divided into 30 areas of various size and shape to represent the unique characteristics of both the build-up in the area (such as buildings and trees) and the line of sight, which determines and limits the possibilities of attacking and moving units across the board. This system is known as the area movement system, as opposed to the hexagonal boards, where units attack and move through a number of hexes. Storm Over Arnhem was the first game to use the area movement system, which was later used in such games as Break Out:Normandy and Thunder Over Casino. Axis & Allies and Risk are also examples of area movement systems. Surrounding the Arnhem map are five movement zones, depicting the areas outside Arnhem, which can be used to quickly move units from one side of town to the other side.

Variant

The game came with a number of counters (playing pieces) which were not used with the basic game, but could be used for playing a variant game of Storm Over Arnhem. That variant game would be published in a future issue of Avalon Hill's The General Magazine. The variant was called The Crossing, and let the players recreate the famous and costly assault by Viktor Graebner's reconnaissance unit (of the German 9th SS Panzer Division) across the Arnhem bridge, where they suffered heavy losses. Also, the variant game begins on the evening of September 17, instead of the afternoon of September 18. The British units start out in the movement zones, and the only German units in Arnhem consist of a small Arnhem Garrison.

General Magazine

Avalon Hill's The General Magazine published a series of articles on Storm Over Arnhem, including a variant to the game, as mentioned above. A two-part series replay was also printed.

Reception

Storm Over Arnhem was awarded the Charles S. Roberts Award for "Best 20th Century Boardgame of 1982". [1]

Reviews

Related Research Articles

<i>The Longest Day</i> (game)

The Longest Day is a World War II board wargame published by Avalon Hill in 1980 that simulates the Allied D-Day invasion of June 1944 and the subsequent Normandy campaign.

<i>Squad Leader</i> 1977 tactical board wargame

Squad Leader is a tactical level board war game originally published by Avalon Hill in 1977. It was designed by John Hill and simulates on infantry combat in Europe during World War II. One of the most complex war games of its time, Squad Leader is the natural extension of the trend towards greater realism initiated by several earlier games, including Avalon Hill's own PanzerBlitz and Panzer Leader. Those two earlier games were slightly larger in scope, with counters representing platoons and map hexes measuring 250 metres across, compared to Squad Leader's 40 meter hexes and squad sized units.

History of the World is a board game designed by Ragnar Brothers and originally published in 1991. It is played by up to six players in seven epochs, each player playing a different empire in each epoch.

<i>The Russian Campaign</i> Board wargame published in 1974

The Russian Campaign is a strategic board wargame published by Jedko Games in 1974 that simulates combat on the Eastern Front during World War II. Avalon Hill later bought the game and produced several editions.

<i>War at Sea</i> Board wargame published in 1975

War at Sea is a strategic board wargame depicting the naval war in the Atlantic during World War II, published by Jedko Games in 1975, and subsequently republished by Avalon Hill in 1976 and more recently by L2 Design Group in 2007.

<i>PanzerArmee Afrika</i> (board game) Board wargame

PanzerArmee Afrika, subtitled "Rommel in the Desert, April 1941 - November 1942", is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in 1973 that simulates the World War II North African Campaign that pitted the Axis forces commanded by Erwin Rommel against Allied forces. The game was revised and republished in 1984 by Avalon Hill.

<i>Napoleon</i> (board game) 1974 strategy board wargame

Napoleon, subtitled "The Waterloo Campaign, 1815", is a strategic-level block wargame published by Gamma Two Games in 1974 that simulates the Battle of Waterloo. A number of versions of the game have been produced by Avalon Hill and Columbia Games.

<i>Guadalcanal</i> (1992 game)

Guadalcanal is a board wargame published by Avalon Hill as part of the Smithsonian American History Series. The game simulates World War II naval battles near the Solomon Islands and is primarily designed for two players. It uses the same game design as the Smithsonian edition of Midway.

<i>Battle of the Bulge</i> (board wargame)

Battle of the Bulge is a board wargame published by Avalon Hill (AH) in 1965 that simulates the World War II battle of the same name. General Anthony McAuliffe (ret.), who had been commanding officer at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, was a consultant during the game's development. The game proved popular and sold over 120,000 copies, but was dogged by criticisms of historical inaccuracies, and was finally replaced by a completely new edition in 1981. A third edition in 1991 was released as part of the Smithsonian American History Series.

<i>Air Assault on Crete</i> Board game

Air Assault on Crete is a wargame published by Avalon Hill in 1977 that simulates the Battle of Crete during World War II.

<i>Across Suez</i>

Across Suez, subtitled "The Battle of the Chinese Farm October 15, 1973" is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications (SPI) in 1980 that simulates operational level ground combat between Egypt and Israel at the Battle of the Chinese Farm during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.

<i>Britannia</i> (board game) Strategy board game

Britannia is a strategy board game, first released and published in 1986 by Gibsons Games in the United Kingdom, and The Avalon Hill Game Company in 1987 in the United States, and most recently updated in late 2008 as a re-release of the 2005 edition, produced by Fantasy Flight Games. It broadly depicts the wars in, and migrations to, the island of Great Britain in the centuries from the Roman invasions to the Norman Conquest.

<i>Close Combat: A Bridge Too Far</i> 1997 video game

Close Combat: A Bridge Too Far, or Close Combat II, is a World War II real-time computer wargame, developed by Atomic Games, and released on October 13, 1997. The second installment of the Close Combat series, the game is played on a two-dimensional map, between two players.

<i>War and Peace</i> (game)

War and Peace, subtitled Game of the Napoleonic Wars: 1805–1815, is a board wargame published by Avalon Hill in 1980 that simulates ten years of Napoleonic wars.

<i>RoboRally</i> Board game

RoboRally is a board game for 2–8 players designed by Richard Garfield and published by Wizards of the Coast (WotC) in 1994. Various expansions and revisions have been published by both WotC and by Avalon Hill.

Turning Point: Stalingrad is a board game published in 1989 by Avalon Hill.

<i>Drive on Stalingrad: Battle for Southern Russia Game</i>

Drive on Stalingrad: Battle for Southern Russia Game is a board wargame originally published by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in 1977 that simulates Germany's 1942 campaign in Russia during the Second World War.

<i>Open Fire: Solitaire Tank Combat in WWII</i> Solitaire board wargame

Open Fire: Solitaire Tank Combat in WWII is a solitaire board wargame published by Victory Games in 1988.

<i>Narvik: The Campaign in Norway, 1940</i> Board wargame

Narvik: The Campaign in Norway, 1940 is a board wargame published by Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) in 1974 that simulates Operation Weserübung, the German invasion of Denmark and Norway during World War II. The game was one of the first in the Europa series of twenty interlocking games envisioned by GDW that would cover the entire European and North African theatres from the start to the end of World War II, using identical map scales and similar rules.

<i>MBT</i> (board game) Board wargame published in 1989

MBT is a board wargame published by Avalon Hill in 1989 that simulates hypothetical World War Three tank combat between NATO and Warsaw Pact forces in Western Europe. A second edition was published by GMT Games in 2016.

References

  1. ↑ "The 1982 Origins Awards". The Game Manufacturers Association. Archived from the original on 2012-12-16.
  2. ↑ "Operation Market Garden | Article | RPGGeek".
  3. ↑ https://archive.org/details/casus-belli-079/page/21/mode/2up
  4. ↑ "GAMES Magazine #33". November 1982.
  5. ↑ "GAMES Magazine #45". November 1983.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.