Great Battles of WWII was developed as a vehicle to portray Division-level battles, when it was found that the conventional miniatures rules sets could not cope with even the limited actions the Canadian Army in the Second World War (see Great Battles Designers Notes, MWAN #79). Such Great Battles emphasizes resting and activating battalions, formations, "going to ground" and attaching Divisional assets. The tactical minutes we abstracted, so that larger, multi-day battles to be played - on a ping pony table and within an evening's May time. Turns, for example are abstracted and very unconventional. There are ten turns to the day, but each turn is not really an hour.

Instead, the first turns of the day are 15 minutes or 30 minutes long. As the day wears on it yes more and more time to accomplish the same tasks. By the end of the day a turn represents two tours or even tour hours. On the whole we are very pleased with Great Battles and feel it makes a major contribution to modern wargaming.

I think it was Marcel Vandersleen who first commented that Great Battles would be a perfect vehicle for playing out airborne assault games. Marcel has long been a student of the Market-Garden operation and had become quite frustrated in the inability of current miniatures rules to capture the flavor and essence of the campaign. We immediately found that the sliding-time scale and the battalion organization worked just as well in Drop Zone as it had in Canadians in Europe. The combat mechanics also worked well. However, when we added the "parachute drib" concept, the formations in Great Battles broke down.

When rolling for each individual stand, the companies of the parachute battalion would not ride in formation, of course, nor would they land within 2" of each other. We tried reducing the drift, however, not only did this contradict many of the principles of a parachute drop as it outlined in Drop Zones articles, but it simply did not feel right. We tried rolling once for the whole battalion, but again this did not seem to capture the essential problems of a pare-drop. This did not, for example, enhance the decision of whether to have a low, medium or high drop, since the battalion landed as a formed group anyway. In the end we opted for a couple of special rules.

First, parachute companies may operate outside of 2" from their sister companies. However, they may only move toward a central stand. Only when the companies are united can the battalion act as a fully operational unit. This also adds another decision for the ne player - how long does he wait until going for the objective? Do you wait until all of the battalion has rendezvoused? Or do you activate the battalion and set off for the objective when some companies are still "out in the boonies"? - in which case they are counted as dead for the rest of that day.

The biggest change in the Great Battles rules are in the Activations. We found early on that giving the attacker (parachutes") a set number of activations meant that he could push on indefinitely. Wily Activations on the relieving force, when the parachutists are your best troops! Let the relieving force sit and the parachutists will fight their way out! On the other hand, if the defender had a set number of Activations why should he wait until the paras are formed ? Attack from the first turn on, before the pares can consolidate! Both situations were unhistoric and did not capture the whole point of dropping a small lightly armed force behind enemy lines. A system had to be developed that would simulate the surprise and momentum the a troops possess in the first hours of an airborne attack. After that the pares should have limited initiative and be on the defensive, for the most part.

On the other hand, the defenders should be able to do little in the first hours. As information on the attack is gathered and troops recover, however, it is the defenders that assume the offensive. Then the question becomes can the pares hold out until the relief force appears. We accomplished this through the use of Activation Cards. Each side has a starting hand of cards (one third of which are dummies). The attacker starts with many cards but few re-draws per day. The defender starts with few cards but gains many as the game wears on.

As time moves on the parachutists run out of cards and have to remain unactivated while the defender has to decide when he has enough initiative and weight to crush the intruders. The relief force is, typically, independent of these considerations and must simply plow ahead as fast as time will allow. Using this system adds to the "fog of war" situation. The gamer never knows if his opponent has a handful of dummy cords or is simply waiting for a better opportunity. As the parachutist how far do you attack with the airborne troops and how many activation cards do you hold back as a reserve. As the defender, how long do you wait ? - not only to build up reinforcements but to build up sufficient initiative. You don't want to feed the troops in piecemeal.

The result is a game that captures the feel of airborne operations. Great Battles command and time features allow you to play out the whole operation, not just a section of the battle. The whole Market Garden attack, for instance, can be played in three sittings using a ping pony table or in one sitting using three tables simultaneously. All six or seven days of the conflict can be played out in a reasonable amount of time and considerations such as communications, road networks, unit recovery and initiative are emphasized over armour thickness and other tactical, technical trivia.

The invasion of Crete can be played each scenario at a time or combined into one large campaign. Pegasus Bridge provides a quick solo game to amuse the gamer and serves as an excellent introduction to the rules. The ultimate campaign, though, is the hypothetical Axis invasion of Malta. Advanced planning is a priority as gamers compete in this tense multi-day, singe-table island-battle.

We felt we had a good game when Great Battles of WFFI - Canadians in Europe was published. We have been more than pleased with the flexibility the game system has shown in adjusting to a new and unique theatre and battle environment. The original rules hold up, virtually unchanged. The only additions needed were for those situations unique to airborne operations. No other set of rules could handle such large concepts or time-scales. We are now looking forward to new, even bigger subjects. I have already started on the scenarios for France 1940 and Sealion and I find myself perusing articles on the Eastfront more carefully, of late.