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Author Topic: Finally bought my first Wargame today.  (Read 29928 times)

judgedredd

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Reply #120 on: September 23, 2019, 09:50:51 AM
Yep, that is good advice. There are also some youtube vids which you may find helpful.
I did link to one in this thread - but I haven't actually got round to it yet. I thought I'd read the manual first but as that isn't working out great, I will look them up again.

It's not that the manual is confusing. On the contrary it's laid out very well so far - but there are some rather complicated mechanics in this game I've never come across before.

I really want to learn it though because the mechanics are similar to the other games in the line and I'd really like to play those also.

I need to hurry up too because Storming the Gap will be here before I know it.  :ROFL:



judgedredd

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Reply #121 on: September 28, 2019, 04:28:58 AM
I haven't watched this yet, but it's in my list. Maybe it'll help



Jesus...I've just watched this guy for 5 minutes and he lost 3 bridges that he approached (rolls of 6 each time!!) Unlucky or what.
Actually looking at the rules, it's incredibly easy to blow the bridges...almost a given. Die rolls above 2 will blow a bridge. For some reason I thought it wouldn't be so easy...I guess after watching the film and seeing so few blown.

The only modifier is -1 on the first turn. I guess that makes it imperative to try and capture the bridges on the 1st turn.

Also - in game, Arnhem, Nijmegen and Westervoort can never be blown. Oh - and Grave can't be blown on turn 1 - so get yer skates on!



bob48

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Reply #122 on: September 28, 2019, 06:38:38 AM
I think you have to bear in mind that the Germans had prepared all these bridges for demolition well beforehand, and they all had guard detachments in place to do so once they were given the order.

If you want a good book on the subject, I would recommend 'A magnificent Disaster' by David Bennett.

“O Lord God, let me not be disgraced in my old days.”

'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'


judgedredd

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Reply #123 on: September 28, 2019, 02:17:02 PM
Yeah I think I'm proper screwed over by the movie. IIRC only the bridge at Grave (or was it Son) was blown

Thanks for the book tip. I've only read Cornelius Ryan and more recently Anthony Beevor



bob48

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Reply #124 on: September 28, 2019, 02:29:16 PM
The Ryan book is rather dated now, but Beevor's book is good, as are all of his.

The book above takes advantage of more material that has been made available in recent years; another very good book on the subject is 'The Devils Birthday' by Geoffrey Powell, and another obvious one is 'A Drop Too Many' by Maj, Gen.John Frost.

For me, the big unsung hero of the battle was Stanislaw Sosabowski, commander of the Polish Brigade, he seems to have been one of the few people who really understood what was going on and what needed to be done. Its a great shame that his part, and that of his men was unjustly played down by the British Command, and he was even made a scapegoat.

“O Lord God, let me not be disgraced in my old days.”

'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'


Staggerwing

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Reply #125 on: September 28, 2019, 03:23:22 PM
AFA Beevor goes, he has two Arnhem books listed at amazon:


Arnhem: The Battle for the Bridges, 1944:  by Anthony Beevor

and
 
The Battle of Arnhem: The Deadliest Airborne Operation of World War II by Antony Beevor

Are these the same book or did he write two separate ones?

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mirth

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Reply #126 on: September 28, 2019, 03:40:40 PM
UK/US versions of the same book.

Being able to Google shit better than your clients is a legit career skill.


Staggerwing

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Reply #127 on: September 28, 2019, 04:00:08 PM
Thanks. I'll go for the nicest cheap hardback then... after double-checking my existing kindle library, just in case.  ;D

Vituð ér enn - eða hvat?  -Voluspa


judgedredd

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Reply #128 on: September 28, 2019, 04:22:57 PM
I love the Kindle and actually can't read a book unless it's on Kindle just due to don't size mostly.

The problem with Kindle though is pictures. Historical war books often have pictures (for example maps as in the Beevor book) but they don't show up great on the Kindle and so you do miss something quite significant



Staggerwing

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Reply #129 on: September 28, 2019, 04:32:03 PM
I love the Kindle and actually can't read a book unless it's on Kindle just due to don't size mostly.

The problem with Kindle though is pictures. Historical war books often have pictures (for example maps as in the Beevor book) but they don't show up great on the Kindle and so you do miss something quite significant

For that kind of stuff (lots of maps, diagrams, photos, etc) using the kindle app on an iPad or other large tablet works well. You can zoom in and out as needed. If you had an e-reader already you could do both and reed the largest sections of text on the e-ink device and referent to the tablet as needed.

For books that only have a few big maps (such as say, the endpaper world maps in a fantasy novel) you could print those out ahead of time on some paper since most map images are readily available on Google somewhere. If you can't D/L the file then do a screen capture instead.

Vituð ér enn - eða hvat?  -Voluspa


BanzaiCat

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Reply #130 on: September 29, 2019, 06:35:17 PM
Yeah, the Kindle Paperwhite is pretty poor with images/maps, but the Fire is nice.

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bob48

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Reply #131 on: September 30, 2019, 06:04:32 AM
Both me and Mrs B have had our Fire HD's for quite some time and use them a lot. Worth the price tag without doubt.

“O Lord God, let me not be disgraced in my old days.”

'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'


judgedredd

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Reply #132 on: September 30, 2019, 07:20:11 AM
Kindle Fire is too heavy for comfortable reading imo. Great for images. Perhaps I should have it to hand so I can look at proper images though  :bigthumb: