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Can pioneers blow bridges in MG ?


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I know the main bridges weren't blown but smaller bridges could of been blown by pioneers. Just a thought.

As an aside:

Wasn't the son bridge partially blown at the north end as part of the german retreat from Normandy, and the Allies had to build a baily bridge.

Also the railway bridge at Arnhem was blown.

"After Generaloberst. Student, the German commander in this area, orders its demolition the bridges over the wilhelmina canal at Best was also destroyed.

The destroyed draw bridge over the Wilhelminacanal at Breugel a few miles past Son. This bridge was already destroyed by the Germans on September 13.

Also the bridges at Best were destroyed by the Germans a couple of day’s later".

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Not stating the obvious, but wasn't the son bridge partially blown at the north end as part of the german retreat from Normandy, and the Allies had to build a baily bridge.

Also the railway bridge at Arnhem was blown.

"After Generaloberst. Student, the German commander in this area, orders its demolition the bridges over the wilhelmina canal at Best was also destroyed.

The destroyed draw bridge over the Wilhelminacanal at Breugel a few miles past Son. This bridge was already destroyed by the Germans on September 13.

Also the bridges at Best were destroyed by the Germans a couple of day’s later".

Just some examples of blown bridges in Market Garden.

Yes but I think the point being made is that the preparation work undertaken by engineers to ready a large bridge for demolition might take many hours and in the case of say the Nijmegen or Arnhem road bridges, days. Therefore not something that needs or should be modelled in a game lasting two hours

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To my knowledge none of the bridges that were blown in MG (or almost anywhere else for that matter) were done off hasty demolitions. The charges had been in place for some time. In the case of the 82nd's AO every account I read has discussed the buildings that were targeted as housing the demolition controls for several of the bridges. In Nijmegen they occupied one building that was supposedly the control center (turned out not to be) and they deliberately dropped rounds onto the Nijmegen bridge to cut the wires if possible between the charges (one account says this may actually be the reason it didn't blow, others include a Dutch civilian cutting the lines).

In the case of at least one bridge the charges had been hidden to look as part of the bridge structure.

Son Bridge had been wired previously and was blown as the 101st approached.

The problem with CM is any defensive player is going to blow the bridge on the 1st turn if we have any kind of demo ability. There is no confusion, FOW, upper command conflicts etc to create the conditions to allow for seizing the bridge. The player is the guy with his hand on the trigger and there is no concern for higher level permission.

On the other hand a good op layer for a campaign can handle this as Broadsword and I are finding with Where Eagles Dare. :D Fingers crossed that I can drop the Son bridge! Funny thing is I am trying to keep the bridge at Best intact. :P

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There is no confusion, FOW, upper command conflicts etc to create the conditions to allow for seizing the bridge. The player is the guy with his hand on the trigger and there is no concern for higher level permission.

Angry Field Marshall barking orders to the player - That's a new CM feature that needs to be implemented! :D

It can be worked around quite easily in the editor if someone wanted to make a scenario about capturing a bridge before it blows. Simply use a hard an fast time limit which forces the attacker to rush and weight the VP's very heavily for a terrain objective around the bridge - this dictates whether it's a win or a loss. Off the top of my head, this would also work quite well in a campaign situation as it's a yes/no result and from there could lead to two 'campaign pathways'.

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