War in the East
Fall of the Third Reich
Ardennes
Britian Invaded
Games like these, unlike some of the silly arcade games, are real tests of one’s mind and ability to plan strategy. These four, all written for the TS2068, have a lot in common. The author is Mark L. Streuber. Playing time is 1 1/2 to 2 hours. The directions are hard-to-read sheets. In them there is a 2-dimensional attack chart, graded left to right accoding to strength ratio between enemy units, and up and down according to chance and unforeseen factors, obviously numbers generated at random during the attack phase. The human plays for the Germans, and the computer plays for the Russians or Allies, except in Britian Invaded, where the computer plays for the German invaders. Each attack is represented by a sound like a pistol shot. It seems that tactical maneuverability is sharply limited by the fact that once a unit is adjacent to an enemy you can no longer control its movements in any way.
Sharp’s flyer says that War in the East is the simplest of the four but their best seller. The game is 30 turns long, of which turns 12 and 13 are mud turns. To score a decisive victory over the Russians, must take and hold Moscow for four consecutive turns. (I played the game once and did just that.)
To win in Ardennes, you have to score 1.6 or higher. This is a ratio of German to Allied victory points. 1.3 to 1.5999 is a draw. The idea is to attack, break through the Allied line, take as many towns as possible, and then defend. German victory is hard to achieve.
The object in Britian Invaded is to get a score of less than 1. The game is 15 turns long and is considered the most advanced of the four. However, if two of the four squares over London are taken by the Germans, then London falls and it’s sudden death for the game. Keep the Germans away from the rail lines, or they’ll cut them in two. (In several tries, I have never even come close to winning this game.)
Arnhem
This game is much more elaborate and detailed than the others, and although not completely free from mistakes showing up in printed titles and text words on the screen, this writer can only describe it generally as a truly incredible piece of software. It’s British, obtainable through English Micro Connection[ed. note: EMC is no longer doing business], and its author, Robert T. Smith, is an expert in military operations and war games as well as in programming. There is no 2068 version; the Spectrum version requires an emulator and probably a booster to load it in your 2068. There is an Amstrad 664 version, and the illustrated 24 page booklet addresses both.
The game is based on the Operation Market Garden that General Montgomery devised which, if successful, would have ended the Second World War in Europe before Christmas in 1944. Nearly 5000 aircraft were used to drop three divisions into Nazi occupied Holland to secure bridges intact in five places on a road 60 miles long, so that the invading British ground forces could quickly reach Arnhem just north of the Rhine and outflank the Siegfried Line, turn into the industrial Ruhr and end the war. This really amounted to running the gauntlet. They didn’t quite make it to Arnhem. The American 101st Airborne Division was to take the bridges at Zon and Veghel, the 82nd, the bridges at Grave and Nijmegen, and the British 1st, the bridges at Arnhem, also known as The Bridge Too Far, the name of the motion picture based on this historical episode. The Germans had retreated north in such disarray as to suggest that the plan would work, but they were quite strong in Holland, with two Panzer divisions stationed in the Arnhem area.
This game is really five, each of which can be played with one player (with the computer playing for the Germans), or with two.
1. Advance to Einhoven: – 7 turns, less than one hour;clear the road of Germans.
2. Operation Garden: – 10 turns; takes the ground forces as far as Grave.
3. Operation Market: – 26 turns; covers Nijmegen and Arnhem.
4. The Bridge Too Far: – 15 turns; involving only the British 1st Airborne Division. This is almost impossible to pull off. The Germans just keep pouring in.
5. Market Garden: – 26 turns;the whole battle;takes 8 to 10 hours to play.
At the end of each turn–there are three turns for each day–you have the option of continuing the game, saving or loading. Also, you are asked if you are playing in black and white. This is slightly misleading, as the only difference is that, in color, the British units, and the border during the British turn, is yellow instead of blue like for the Americans.
Each turn has three phases. Phases 1 and 3 are for the motorized units and phase 2 is for the other units. Each unit can move or dig in during each phase, but not both. It can only attack once during a turn, however. It can bombard if it’s artillery; how far depends on whether it’s motorized or not, or if it’s airlanding artillery. It can travel if its on a road. You can give it orders to go anywhere, as long as it’s on a road. It will go ten spaces during each phase until it gets there, and you can always intercept and change the orders. It can change size from the regular 4-square size to condensed, for going over bridges. There are many kinds of units, and each unit is individually presented in turn with its name and division (as long as it hasn’t been wiped out), and, if you ask for it, a complete report on its strength, effectiveness, morale, attack modifer, and unit size. Units arriving by air can be dropped anyplace you put it, as long as it’s in open terrain. (No hanging from trees or church steeples.)
It’s easier to let the Germans get on the road than it is to get them off it once they park behind a bridge. (I find my chances of winning for the Allies to be just about nil if I also move the Germans in a two player game.)