It's back, and with luck it will take place this September. Under the leadership of Jon Van Houton and others, it appears that there will be a "A BRIDGE TOO FAR." The following information is presented on plans to hold "A Bridge Too Far," the Wilderness V project this September. Much of what is given below is still tentative and will be fixed more precisely as soon as possible. At this point in time, possible sites are Springfield, IL, northern Indiana, and the Illinois/Iowa Quad Cities area. If at all possible, it will be held at a hotel site due to its multi-day structure. The game will need four separate rooms, with each room covering part of the action. The sections are: Arnhem. Nijmegen, Veghel, and the XXX Division Sector. The game scale will be at one level less than historical, so that armies become corps, corps become divisions, divisions become brigades, etc. We will need in order to run Wilderness V a total of about 60 people, in order to fill the following slots: Commanders and players who enjoy planning a battle need to sign up as Allies; those thatjust wish to play need to sign up as Germans. Directing Staff (3), Jon Van Houton, Director of Project; John Holtz, Greg Novak, Assistant Directors. These are the lads in charge of things. Judges: (8 to 12) The project will call for the use of four separate rooms. We need at least eight, and up to 12, judges who will be tasked with keeping the game moving. Commanders: There will be eight Allied and five German commanders needed. Commanders will not be pushing troops, but rather commanding those players who do. The Allied commanders will have to plan the operation, while the German commanders will have to react to things as they happen. Commanders may recruit a second in command or chief of staff if they wish. Under certain circumstances (see below), commanders will be allowed to recruit their sub-commanders. Commanders will be needed for: (1 person each) ALLIED 18th Airborne Division British 1st Airborne Brigade United States 82nd Airborne Brigade United States 101st Airborne Brigade 30th Division Guards Armored Brigade 43rd Infantry Brigade 50th Infantry Brigade GERMAN Western Army 1st Parachute Corps 2nd SS Armored Division 15th Army Corps Nijmegen Division Players: We will need players in the following numbers: Note that while Allied players will be assigned specific units to command, German players will be assigned units as events occur. British 1st Airborne Brigade-3 players Polish Airborne Battalion-1 player United States 82nd Airborne Brigade-4-5 players United States 101st Airborne Brigade--4 players British Guards Armored Brigade-2 players British 43rd Infantry Brigade-3 players British 50th Infantry Brigade-3 players Princess Irene Battalion-1 player Depending on the Allied Plan, the following unit may be used: British 52nd Airlanding Brigade-3 commanders German Players: 12 to 16 German players TENTATIVE SCHEDULE Friday Night, September 17, 1700 on: Directing Staff, Judges, and Commanders show up, sort troops, set up terrain, etc. Players may attend, but are not required to. Saturday Morning/Afternoon, September 18, 0900 to 1600: Carry out the first day's operations. The first day ends at 1600 actual time. Each room will operate on its own time schedule. Saturday Afternoon, September 18, 1600 to 1800: A sit down dinner at the motel with a possible speaker. This will be part of the program, and is designed to let everyone relax at the same time. Saturday Evening, September 18, 1800 to 2200: Carry out the night turns, and the next morning activities up to noon. Again, each room operates on its own time. Sunday Morning/Afternoon, September 19,0900 to 1300: Finish the second days operation. The second day ends at 1300 actual time. Each room will operate on its own time schedule. Sunday Afternoon, September 19, 1300 to 1500: Debrief and take down. RESPONSIBILITIES Directing staff and judges will be assigned responsibility for ensuring that the terrain is done for each of the four rooms. Terrain must be finished by early August so that the judges/directing staff can play through each section of the game. Commanders and players will be assigned responsibility for ensuring that the troops are present for the game. In a number of cases, the needed units already exist, but the units in question must be mustered in and turned over to the directing staff by mid- August. COSTS Players and commanders will need to pay $10 in order to hold their command. This fund will be used to help defray the costs of holding the event. All participants my be required to pay for dinner or otherwise share the costs of the meeting space. You can plan on spending one to two nights lodging, depending on where the actual site is, and the job that you are holding, as well as pay for meals. GROUP SIGN UPS Groups wishing to hold a specific command, i.e., have a person be a commander, and have players assigned to the sub- units of that unit, may do so under the following condition: The sooner that a group is willing to complete these conditions, the better the chance is that you will get your requested unit. 1. The group must turn in the name of the commander, and the names of the players for the unit in question. 2. The group must ensure that the unit will be present at the game. 3. The group must provide a person who is willing to serve as judge for the game. 4. The group must have turned in the requested funds to hold their unit. Back to Table of Contents -- Command Post Quarterly #2 To Command Post Quarterly List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1993 by Greg Novak. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com