Setting Up You, as the Brits/U.S./Poles airborne, can shoot on the sketch map, set down your Firm Base and send out one section on patrol. Enemy can be laid down as on the map provided, or you can land your Hengest or Horsa glider on the smaller scale map and trek to a rendezvous with possibility of 'bumps' with the enemy along the way. Gliders can be easily constructed from cereal boxes. These gliders carried troops and/or a jeep on landing, run out the runners and drive the jeep etc. All this took about ten minutes without snags - or up to 20 minutes with bolts seizing if not done in proper sequence etc. All under fire of course. A point here. Enemy snipers were a real pain - well covered and with telescopic sights - a wild card enemy sniper could make your task even harder! Paperwork Each character should have a sheet recording name and rank (you can make up Personal or Army numbers if you like), weapons, rating (veteran, experienced, trained etc.) and any other details to help the verisimilitude. Wounds and telegrams to next of kin and finally gongs (medals) awarded. Duration Depends on your needs/wants. About 20 moves for the "In Arnhem" game and multiplying by 7 for "campaigns." Glider Details Many members can do better than this I don't doubt, but it's just for the fun of the thing. Example of Play. I determined that Corporal Artist's section was to patrol while Sergeant Thomas defended the firm base. Corporal Artist's patrol was to keep the enemy as far as possible from Division HQ by offensive action. The medium machine gun, I decided, was to cover the cross roads next to the hospital (but avoid firing into the hospital) while the 2" mortar was to cover the next cross roads to the north. Corporal Artist issued the following instructions to his section. "Louden with the Bren and Jones are the gun group; riflemen give your Bren magazines to them. Movement. 1st movement odds and evens with the Bren right flanking. On 'Down' watch for hand signals. In built up area staggered file. Gun rear. Action on houses. As rehearsed for entering. Actions on bumping into enemy. Numerous enemy - bug out odds and evens. Few enemy - section attack as ordered by me. Get your appreciation right! Numbers. Louden is 1; Jones 2; Corkill 3; Richards 4; Mac 5; O'Rourke 6; and Baker 7. Jones, you are gun. Right! Now make sure all your rattly bits don't and leave your false teeth with the other section. Ammunition. Fifty rounds each. Don't waste 'em; bloody well aim! Weapons. Make sure the working parts are clean and lightly oiled. Questions? I know! When do we eat? If you've anything with you, hang on to it. Otherwise, mess when we get back. ETA 1200 hours. Make sure your water bottle is full and use it sparingly. OK, five minutes to standby, ready to move. Shift yourselves." I added an Airfix Tiger to the enemy force but had it stationed with the m/c combination and HQ car furthest away (north) from the action - signifying lack of 'drive' on the part of the enemy forces. I also occupied with enemy the houses shown to be so in the section of the Arnhem street plan and left those troops in situ - they could only participate if the Brits came into view and range. At Brit HQ one section was in perimeter defense, with 2" mortar and medium machine gun (MMG) to 'beef' them up slightly. The mortar and MMG range of movement was restricted to the east-west road in their immediate front. This meant they could both be on one side of the HQ together or either side. The PIAT though powerful was very portable so I allowed it to go with the patrolling section. Starting in the trees behind the South Hospital the patrol readied for "Go." Various scraps of paper littered the terrain (2 bits of hardboard and a sheet of chipboard made up my temporary table. The plantation was 'dolls house' wooden fir trees, the rest my own manufacture with Plasplugs and dry tree moss. Houses were: two scratch built, two resin cast, one scratch built burned house and umpteen much smaller scale card houses from a Swiss kit 'Der Kleine Stat.' Road outlines chalked in - I've ordered some Bellona sections please!) These scraps told me what I'd decided about the enemy and point platoon weapons at HQ. As the paper was a sort of recycled green, they didn't clash! The patrol set off and got over the crossroads to the empty house on the corner without being seen. Corporal Artist decided to enter and fortify the house and dig a communication trench to the next house. He had heard Germans shouting to each other from their positions down the road (to the north) and knew from an equal amount of noise that the house behind the North Hospital building to the east was also occupied by the enemy. The patrol hadn't gotten very far! Ordering the PIAT into the attic where part of the gable end was removed from the inside, Artist sited the weapon there. It would cover the road going north where the Tiger's engine being revved gave an inkling that a main threat would come from there. (It wouldn't be but Artist could not know that). He put "Bryn with the Bren" and his 2IC Loudon at the other end of the house looking east down the road between the two hospital buildings. The well known accuracy of the Bren, he hoped, would ensure that the hospital would be safe from fire. Enemy crossing that road would be hampered or even prevented from doing so (interdicted in present parlance). He had some idea that the enemy was over the road in some numbers anyway (they were) but he felt sure that those who were would feel cut off if their mates were being gunned down behind them. He put four riflemen in the next house along the street (west). He thought that their fire when they opened up would deter the enemy from moving south to the T-junction. They had a clean shot from there. The enemy patrol who had seen mortar bombs flying over them had got over their panic now. [Excerpt from the War Diary: Corporal Artist on wireless - "Hello this is A1(Artist's call sign). DRAINPIPE (code word for 2" mortar) open on coordinates west of north road 2'6" north and 6 1/2" east, out." (Sides and corner of the table establish distances). MORTAR - "Heard A1, out. Fire two!" STONK! STONK! "Wait." 12" radius effect. Target open (on road), moving (file either side), dice. Overshoot. Artist - "Blast!" Resulting panic test on enemy showed "Go prone result." So Artist's Blast was a bit previous. No blood, but the advance stopped. Enemy patrol dice for resumed advance. Scored one. Stayed put another move. Enemy in houses behind north hospital building ordered to move forward across road. Dice. Scored two. Stayed put! Officer in charge chews the carpet. Enemy on west road ordered to advance again. dice scored ONE! Stayed put another move. Enemy on east side of ground ordered forward across road. Dice score ONE! [Player changes dice!] Red dice score five. Enemy Go! Bren fires on enemy emerging from houses onto Arnhem main street. Nearest enemy short range in open. Dice score 3 (all Brit paras firing get 4+ on short range) - equals 7. Three enemy have bought it! Panic reaction test. Enemy low motivation 25% chance of panic - goes up by another 20% for being under fire and dead comrades around. Scored 4 so run on across the road! "I am now waded so deep in blood, returning were as tedious as go o'er" as MacBeth says. Three panicked enemy join six already across the road from the street. Reaction to these reinforcements by the six were diced and scored 2. "Freeze" cowering behind the furniture another move. Enemy in position behind burnt out house down Station Road (see plan) now activated. Wouldn't you know it! Scored one on the dice and refused order. Enemy on west road now ordered forward again. Ye-e-es!! They moved down the road in staggered file 9". Brit mortar fires on them again. Two "stonks" at declared coordinates 15" and 6 1/2". Scored 6 and 3. Long range. Open (on road), Fire Factors at long range +2 = 8 and 5. Actual score 6 and 3 = 2 killed. Panic Reaction scored 5, carry on. Reaction Tests can go either way! The enemy Station Road contingent now ordered forward again scored 5. Half section rush forward while other half give covering fire. These enemy know from the Bren firing that the Brits are in the corner house. They don't know about the PIAT and Artist's Sten at their end however. Artist with sten scored 6 on firing dice + Fire Factor of 4. Short range, enemy in open = 2 hits. Panic Reaction score - 6! Enemy keep going. Artist calls out "Blast 'em Frank!" to the PIAT man, Baker. "Take that you ..." The remainder is lost in the blast. The one remaining enemy on his feet bolts back for cover. Enemy in houses south of main street ordered forward again. Reaction score 2. No movement. The sound of the PIAT bomb going off and the screams of the dying make them think perhaps the Brits are using an anti-tank gun in an anti-personnel role! The west street enemy are still making tracks down the road for Brit Division HQ. Artist's 4 riflemen in the next house wait until they are in the open. Fire die score 6! x 4 firers + 4 for short range. Seven enemy hit - one enemy remains of that group. He runs back to the nearest house, held by more enemy, just behind him. At this point the enemy commander's patience was exhausted and the Tiger was activated. Tiger gun lay, "An!" Tiger commander, "Feuer!" Boom! Dice score 3. In the corner house Baker, the PIAT man, had crawled back to the "beast" and reloaded it with a new fused bomb. He looked up to see the horrible sight of the Tiger one-third of the way down Station Street! Baker stuck his eye to the sight and fired on his own initiative. Dice score 6. The Tiger catches fire! [I don't believe this - Player] The round from the Tiger went straight through the house from end to end. As the Bren was downstairs and Artist and company were in the loft they were just "All shook up!" At this point the game had to end as our visitors arrived a little early and the wargames room reverted to the spare room again. I found this an interesting game. The fact that the paras were walloping the enemy at the stage the game ended could have been the high tide of their fortunes as masses more enemy were obviously available (recycled dead). The longer the game went on, the less chance the paras had of winning. I hope members can use this scenario and have fun with it. The Glider Element For the glider pilot, getting airborne is a relatively simple thing compared to getting the glider on the ground again. This has specific problems for the era, battle situation and the type of airframe used. The gliders were towed by "tugs" - prop planes. The elegant glider trainer "Hotspur II" was nothing like the "box with wings" for optimum carriage that the gliders became. The flight time from setting free from the tug to landing was expected to average only 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. The elements needed to be combined for simulation are: wind and weather, anti-aircraft fire, crowded skies, and landing zones (LZ). Other "little pleasures" may be added such as cargo shifting (jeeps and trailers) and near misses with other aircraft. On Landing Overshoot. Obviously, going too far from the end of your LZ. Undershoot. Not hitting the front end of the LZ. Drift or side slip. Some of this could be intentional as an avoidance procedure, but sometimes not. This can be represented by a D6 throw. 1 & 2. drift left. 2. drift right. 3 & 4. indicates a few degrees 'out' only. 5 & 6. Straight on course. Wizard Ride! Overshoot and undershoot can be represented by a % dice roll. To get on the LZ you have a 75% chance (make things more difficult for yourself if you wish, of course). If you roll up to 13% that's undershoot. If you roll over 88% that's overshoot. You can build in your own consequences of both these states by further dice rolls or card cutting. You can write CHANCE CARDS for eventualities to correspond to values or suits in cards. Aces High! I will now give a check list for landing procedure 1. Wireless to tug. Rehearse details of your given LZ and terrain to pass over. 2. Thank tug and pull lever releasing the tow. [2 ropes attached at the strongest part of the wings.] 3. Gain more altitude to slow glider down. 4. Check position vis a vis the ground and proximity to other gliders in the air. Begin landing. 5. First pilot chooses a clear run in to the LZ. Second pilot checks terrain features simultaneously. 6. Flaps can correct glide path by regaining a little height and gliding in again, but not so efficient as first time around. Manoeuvres can lose fifty meters in height in 10 seconds. 7. Emotional influence, fear? anxiety? Some of the LZ squares might be designated anxiety squares and chance cards drawn on these to reflect extra hazards occasioned by these emotions. Chance Happenings 1. Pilot shot. Wounded? Killed? 2. Cables severed to aileron. 3. Controls jam. [If rudder or an aileron are hit you can just manage to land OK if you are very clever. Consider a pilot proficiency test before take off. If both rudder and an aileron are hit, you have had it!] Problems of Altitude Simulation. The best one can do with "back of a postcard" ideas is to have a measure or two to represent height. I have begun arbitrarily at 1000 meters and come down in decrements of 50 meters to BUMP points. If members wish to come in from greater heights, build your own table. I think the best way to get down is an average dice. This gives the possibility of mostly 4s and 3s decrements with an occasional 2 and sudden 5! If you have numbers over near the bump that sends you "up" again until you have the right number. I suppose the longer you are up in the air the greater chance of enemy fire hitting you. You can resolve this on a % or D6 as you wish. Well there it is for you to play around with. I'm sure it can be improved upon and some of you may be interested enough to do so. Map Arnhem Introduction Back to Table of Contents -- Lone Warrior #105 Back to Lone Warrior List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by Solo Wargamers Association. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. 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