The scenario for Arnhem: a first attempt by Sam Marks

The purpose of this article is not simply to methodically relate the
history of a game but rather to highlight some of the points and
pitfalls that I came across during my very first attempt at playing the
game. Hopefully readers will find it useful in helping them during their
first attempts, if they have the game or are considering purchase.

I cannot claim to be very expert at playing boardgame simulations, as
the following will undoubtedly reveal - lack of time prevents me fully
developing my interest in the hobby. Some of the mistakes I made will
make the experts laugh but they may help the less-expert players from
making the same errors. Highway to the Reich is not a game for the
novice but anyone with a little experience of boardgames and a good deal
of perseverance will, I think, thoroughly enjoy it. I certainly did.

I would hazard a guess that in the UK the most commonly played scenario
will be "28. Drop of the British 1st Airborne - 17-18th Sept 1944".
Certainly it was the one that I couldn't wait to get to grips with. It
is a good starter to the game, being played on a single mapsheet and in
14 Game turns. The rules say it should take 4 hours to play - I took 4
weeks! (But then my game was a somewhat disjointed effort due to lack of
time).

Whenever I first read a new set of game rules I mark the 'new' rules in
pencil so as to be able to quickly backtrack and pinpoint these during
play. HWTR does have a good many new rules to take in and at first read
through I ground to a standstill. Not deterred I reread them and then
decided to play regard less - picking up knowledge as the game
progressed.

A lot of things were done wrongly in the first few turns. This is almost
inevitable with a complex game like HWTR when it's first played. But
with a lot of thumbing through the rules book progress, though painfully
slow, was made.

I used the historical deployment, though the Drop Zones really do seem a
long way from that bridge! The scenarios are all played without the use
of the rules governing weather, air-lift capacity, flight paths or
German flak effects. Although this makes them less complex at the start
it seems a pity since the uncertainty and excitement of the actual
airborne assault is greatly lessened, though some losses and scattering
do still occur. (Historically, 11% of the glider force bound for Arnhem
were lost or crashed with their vital equipment and vehicles).

The air landing operation proceeded smoothly in accordance with the
rules and only 3 strength points were lost. The total confusion on the
Drop Zones must very closely approximate reality with stacks of 2, 3 or
4 units placed one against the other over a considerable portion of the
mapsheet. This may have been the first major error in my game. In
retrospect it may have been more sensible to have staggered the drop
over two turns or at least over both phases of turn 1.

Some clear idea as to which units are intended to do what is also
essential. In my eagerness to get started I overlooked this very basic
point. I lost valuable time carefully regrouping battalions with nary a
thought for their ultimate task - to defend the DZ or head for the
bridge.

The airborne recce squadron - that's a key unit. If you can get them
down more or less in one piece near to Heelsum you're in with a chance.
The historical plan called for this unit (25% of which never even
reached the DZ) to race ahead to the bridge and hold it. I didn't even
realise that it could race ahead until it was too late and I had sent it
plodding up the road like infantry.

Other units that can race along are the AT companies in Travel Mode. You
have to watch that they don't get caught in their Travel Mode though -
they don't last long if they are !

As happened hlstorlcally, the main Arnhem Heelsum road was blocked by
German units camped astride it and more valuable time was lost in
attempting to force a passage. They should have been by-passed initially
and cleared later. In my game it was the 3rd battalion, 1st Brigade that
made the best progress - via the Heveadorp trail (probably also the best
route for the recce squadron to take). It managed to take the rail
bridge without it being blown and crossed over to attack the flak units
defending the southern approach to the main road bridge at Arnhem. After
several hours these defences were eliminated and the 3rd Battalion
installed itself on the southern end of the bridge. (Historically, it
should have been the 2nd Battalion at the north end).

At no time in the game can I say that the north end of the road bridge
was really seriously threatened. 2nd Battalion reached the city hexes of
Arnhem in good time but believe me trying to assault in these hexes is
very frustrating. Just when you think the opposition has been whittled
down ready for a close-action assault another German Independent unit
arrives to bolster the defences. And once the German's Flak Brigade
arrives in the vicinity - forget it! I'd say that it's the German
player's artillery that holds the key to his actions - more so than the
armour. When the Flak Brigade and the 10th Panzer's artillery are
concentrated even a fresh full-strength unit can be eliminated during a
single fire phase.

The 10th Panzer Division arrives from the south-east edge of the map and
historically tried to force the road bridge. During this game the German
player decided to swing the 10th Pz round through Deelen to deploy on
the open ground north-east of Wolfheze and the DZs. Historically this
would have been a very unlikely approach as the Germans were anxious to
force the bridge, cross the river and reinforce Nijmegen). Some infantrv
units were dropped off on the way near Schaarsbergen to bolster the 9th
Pz in their holding actions north-east of Arnhem and the Utrecht-Arnhem
highway. Though it took a good many hours to move the 10th through
Deelen and deploy it the result was, to say the least, effective.

In order to protect the DZs from this threat and prepare for the
incoming 4th Para Bde many units of the Glider Pilots Regt and the
Airlanding Bde had to drawn back away from Arnhem itself - with
disastrous results later in the game.

Odd German Independent formations kept popping up all over the place but
apart from one incursion into Heelsum (which took several hours to
eliminate) the real threat to the DZs was from 10th Pz.

In the event it proved impossible to protect 4th Brigade's DZ but a very
effective defensive perimeter was drawn in an arc through the forests
north of Wolfheze. When the 4th Bde dropped it came down on top of a
number of Independent units but losses were not heavy in spite of this.
But by the time the brigade had sorted itself and made the cover of the
forest hexes it had accumulated a good many more losses - almost
entirely from 10th Pz artillery firing from north-east of the highway.

All this activity to the north of Wolfheze had distracted my attention
from two vital areas. Firstly, the 3rd Battalion had been all but wiped
out by artillery firing from east of Arnhem. Secondly, armoured units
from 1/10th had overrun para units defending the highway north-east of
Oosterbeek, threatening the supply line to all units fighting in Arnhem
city. It is virtually impossible to hold a position if it's subjected to
the kind of massed artilllery fire that the German player can muster
(especially if it is positioned around the OBW unit).

It's also very difficult for the airborne infantry to stop armour. One
hex gap and they're through! - and all the Opportunity Fire you can
muster does little to stop them.

A point worth noting for the re-play - if there's armour about keep a
continuous hex front. Also fire your artillery first so that gaps
created can be exploited by units that do not have to fire and can then
move in the subsequent phase.

I found myself rushing Travel Mode AT units all over the place just to
plug gaps (they can deploy out of Travel Mode at the end of their
movement by expending one movement point). I was caught out, though, on
many occasions both by the Subordination rules (which reduce the
effectiveness of multi formation attacks drastically) and more often by
the fact that once committed these AT units are difficult to pull out.
They have to change to Travel Mode (being subjected to Opportunity Fire
usually) and then have to sit there - often through an enemy Fire phase
and a movement phase. Units in Travel Mode are very vulnerable to
close-action and incoming fire. More often than not the unit did not
survive to be removed.

Units like these that are in danger of being surrounded seem, frankly,
to be better off sitting there and doing nothing - thereby obliging the
German player to commit units to reduce them. If cut off think twice
about firing since to do so risks Depletion - once depleted the end is
nigh!

Having now lost the south approach to the road bridge (and the entire
3rd Battalion) I decided to try to hold the road at Elden. Historically,
this would be important since it would slow down German reinforcements
moving south against the US 82nd at Nijmegen. Not that there were any in
this game as they were all swarming over the DZs to the north-west.
Since things were now getting decidedly shaky on the north bank of the
river I could not find more than a few Glider Pilot AT units to do this.

I only just managed to stabilise the armoured incursion towards
Oosterbeek and began to withdraw 4th Bde back towards Wolfheze. That
open ground north of Wolfheze was very tricky to cross especially since
l0th Pz had finally broken through the forest perimeter line and were
able to spot for their artillery. Several units were caught in the open
in concentrated mode and took considerable losses as a result. Once the
armour had broken that perimeter at hex 2716 it was vital to pull
everythinq back into the forests around the Supply DZ to prevent this
from being overrun and thereby putting the entire Division out of
supply!

The Div AT units with their 2 hex range and ZOC were positioned in
wooded hexes over looking the clear terrain around Wolfheze. Their fire
really started to have effect on the armour. I think that these units
are about the only ones that the Airborne player has that are capable of
dealing effectively with armour. They need to be carefully deployed and
husbanded.

So preoccupied was I with the actions around the Supply DZ that I made
yet another error of deployment. This time south of the river. I had
some AT units positioned in wooded hexes covering the approach to the
rail bridge and reinforced these with a full-strength GP infantry unit.
However in my enthusiasm to repulse a German unit approaching along the
river bank I moved this unit one hex too far from the rail bridge end. A
single hex gap was created and lo and behold an Independent armoured
unit rushed the bridge and sat on the south end. This not only gave the
south approach to the German but it placed every unit south of the river
out of supply with no route back to safety. Worse still, it meant that
the Airborne Div Artillery was over looked and soon the German artillery
began to systematically reduce it. (Thus was lost the most effective
units I had to deploy against infantry). Total disaster was but a die
throw away at this point because the Div HQ was also spotted and began
to take losses. By quickly withdrawing this unit back into Oosterbeek
disaster was delayed for a few turns more.

By now the airborne perimeter had taken on almost the exact shape of the
historical one. A 'thumb' with its base on the river and its tip just
above the Supply DZ.

You will have noticed that I have not given any indication of the time
scale of these events. I 'm too embarrassed!! Arnhem was a glorious
disaster - my re-enactment was an ignominious one! The time was 08.00
Sept 19th (Game turn 18) just 36 hours after the initial assault. In
ourenthusiam we had overrun the scenario time length and carried on into
the next scenario entitled "The Destruction of the British 1st". An apt
title. This scenario is scheduled to last until turn 44 but there is no
chance that my shattered remnants will last that long. I'll carry on to
the end (when ever that may be) and then I'll start again. This time
I'll take into account the lessons learned during this first attempt.

It's a pity that the real thing couldn't have had a practise run  But
even so they still did a lot better than me!!