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Atlantic Wall: - Pledge The Invasion of Europe, June 1944
The beginning of D-Day, the well known Allied invasion of Europe that spelled the end of Hitler's Thousand Year Reich: that's the beginning of Decision Game's new edition of the SPI classic Second World War simulation, Atlantic Wall. Never in the history of warfare had an operation so grand in scope and so daring in concept been attempted. This game covers the three major areas of fighting — the land, sea and air — in great detail on many levels. As the Allied player, you must hit the beaches with infantry teams in your LCVPs, DD ("Duplex Drive") swimming tanks, and demolition engineers (used to blow gaps in German obstacles and minefields). All the while your rocket-equipped LCTs saturate the coast with volleys of hundreds of 4.5" rockets every second. As the German player, you must use your strongpoints and resistance nests (at platoon strength) — sited on the bluffs overlooking the sands — to pin the vulnerable Allied soldiers to their positions while your mobile reinforcements approach the coast to hurl the invaders back into the sea. At the same time, you must use your 240mm and 280mm batteries at Houlgate and Le Grand Clos to discourage Allied ships from becoming too daring and approaching too far inshore. Once established ashore (and that's a big "if"), the Allies must pour their massive reinforcements, poised in Great Britain, into Normandy. Artillery will be absolutely necessary for the survival of the fragile bridgeheads, as well as armor, anti-tank guns, reconnaissance elements and — most importantly — supply. While the Allied player is building up, the German player must make a crucial decision: do the reinforcements available make it worthwhile to a launch an all-out effort to crush the invasion? Or should the superb defensive terrain of the Normandy bocage be utilized to its utmost, with dreaded 88s dug in along with machinegun teams to make an Allied advance well nigh impossible? Atlantic Wall simulates Second World War combat with all its complexities on every level, from the quasi-tactical to the operational and strategic. As theater commander, you must make critical strategic decisions. Which divisions should get the meager supplies arriving at the half-finished "Mulberry" artificial harbors? Should the Cotentin peninsula be cut at Carteret, followed by a drive on the all important port of Cherbourg? Or should an all out drive be made on the crossroads at Coutances (a city that historically was to cost many thousands of lives when taken late, during Operation Cobra)? Where should the German player pit his fast moving panzer divisions? In the relatively open terrain west of Caen, or in the dense bocage of the American sector? As a corps or division commander, you must decide how artillery will be allocated, in support of attacks or in defense of critical positions. In the attack, you must team up infantry battalions with tank and engineer companies for optimum combat results. On the defense, you must pit a strong infantry force, well dug in with minefields and combined with a few anti-tank guns, against the advancing enemy. You must also choose wisely your attacking units, for prolonged combat will tire and eventually disrupt even the most experienced and well trained troops. It will usually be dangerous to attack with the same unit more than twice per day. Similarly, it's dangerous to defend a coveted piece of ground with a unit that's had its morale shaken so much it can no longer stand the slightest shock. As a regional or battalion commander, you will see what it was like to batter your way through the "damned hedgerow country," where each patch of shrubs might conceal anything from a single sniper to an entire German tank company. Advancing through that country is tedious, disorganizing and bloody. Rarely will you be able to take a position without strong help from supporting tanks, artillery and aircraft. Even then, you probably won't take more than one position a day. On the defense, the German player must wisely use his dug in and entrenched infantry and anti-tank guns. Even so, the best laid plans may go awry in the face of ingenious Allied inventions designed to combat those defensive advantages, such as British "Funny" tanks exploding mines with fast turning iron flails. The air war over Normandy, usually secondary in wargame systems, is also covered in detail. Individual groups (wings for the British) are allocated to various support functions each day. Each unit is given a primary aircraft type and quantitative ratings for performing those functions, from devastating, rocket-firing RAF Typhoons to night-fighting USAAF Black Widows. The naval aspects of the campaign are similarly portrayed. Individual ship counters — including battleships, monitors, cruisers and destroyers — are used to perform both bombardment and ground support. The 2,000 counters represent land, sea and air combat units, broken-down companies, along with numerous markers and play aids. Five full-sized mapsheets portray most of Normandy, from Cherbourg to St. Lo to Caen, at one kilometer per hex. Terrain features include: breaches, bocage, woods, villages, towns, rivers, swamps, fortifications, cliffs and bluffs. Extensive charts and tables simplify unit organization, invasion waves and battalion breakdowns. A complete order of battle for the Normandy fighting, from 6 June to 1 July 1944, is also included. Jumping off from where Wacht am Rhein (the first true operational-level game covering combat in the Second World War) left off, Atlantic Wall perfects this playable, yet detailed, system. The distinction of this system lies in the fact it portrays all crucial aspects of combat from regimental commander up. Est. Retail: $160 (Est. Pledge $120). |
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P.O. Box 21598, Bakersfield, CA 93390-1598 |
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