Operation Market Garden (Overlord Map)
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Operation Market Garden, fought in September 1944, was a major Allied offensive during World War II aimed at ending the war quickly by capturing key bridges in the Netherlands and entering Germany’s industrial heartland.
The operation combined a massive airborne assault (Market) by British, American and Polish paratroopers with a ground advance (Garden) by British XXX Corps. The goal was to seize bridges over several rivers, including the Rhine at Arnhem, to create a direct route into Germany.
Listen up, men—Operation Market Garden was bold, daring, and damned near brilliant on paper. Our boys dropped from the sky and stormed bridges across Holland like thunder on the move. They seized their early targets with guts and grit—but at Arnhem, the lion met the cage. The British 1st Airborne fought like hell for every inch, surrounded, outgunned, and cut off from relief.
In the end, the last bridge stayed in enemy hands. The link-up failed, and what was meant to end the war early turned into a costly lesson in overreach. We aimed for glory—and came up “a bridge too far”.
~~Â General Howitzer
13 VP’s
Card Balance:
Allies – 13 (!)
Axis – 3 (!)
Complexity:
4
Conditions:
Countryside
Context:
Historical
Location:
Netherlands
Year:
1944
Theater:
Western
Campaign:
Codename:
Operation Market Garden
Summary:
Objectives:
13 VP’s with Temporary Majority Medal Objectives for whomever holds the majority of the 13 town hexes; plus Turn Start Temporary Uncontested Medal Objectives for the three key bridges.
Battlefield:
Countryside with many roads, towns, rivers, and forests
Troops:
Allies – 20 Infantry, 8 Armor, 1 Artillery
Axis – 17 Infanty, 7 Armor, 1 Artillery
 
Allied Strategy:
1. The Allies have an overwhelming tank force on their right flank. They will need to attack vociferously and eliminate all enemy forces in that section, so that they can turn their armor to attack the central sections.Â
2. You can get some early medals by attacking the enemy forces which were surprised and surrounded by your forces in the left and right sections. There are two infantry units on each side which you can quickly take out, and gain some early medals.
3. Watch out for the Tiger Tank on your left flank. It can only be taken out with two successful rolls, first an armor or grenade roll, and then the second roll must be a grenade.
Axis Strategy
1. As Axis, because of the surprise nature of this attack, you only start with three Combat Cards vs. the Allies 13!. But every time you take out an Allied unit, the Allied Commander loses a card (which you get to pull from his hand), and you are given a new card from the deck (not the one from his hand) and your total cards to use each turn increases. So as the battle progresses the card ratio will begin to even out, until eventually the Axis will have more cards than the Allies. Cards are attack-ability, so your attack-ability will increase, as the other’s declines.
2. Your tanks, since you were not suspecting the airborne attack, are not in play at the start of the game. You will need to use some of your early turns to get them into attack positions. And because the tanks can only move two hexes in this scenario (unless start and ending on a road, when they can move 4 hexes), it will take two to three turns to get them into place. So you need to start early.
3. Control of the three bridge medals is based on being either on the bridge hex, or in the nearby vicinity of the six hexes surrounding it. But note that if the enemy is able to get into the proximity of the bridge, you will lose that bridge medal until you clear them out. If the bridge is contested, then no one gets the medal. So keep the enemy forces well away from your bridges! Â
Battle Reports
Author:
Days of Wonder
Link:
