Arnhem Bridge Operation - Ver. 1.0 Now Available

[Pak40]

This is a more historically correct version than the one provided by CM.

The Op can be downloaded at the CMHQ site: http://combathq.thegamers.net/

Check out some screen shots:

http://www.members.home.net/jroland2/arnhem_bridge.htm

[This message has been edited by Pak40 (edited 08-26-2000).]

[Sgt.Morgue]

Just came from site , it wasn't listed in operations downloads , as a matter of fact there were no operations listed.

[JeffRaider]

You need to click on CMHQ Scenario Depot, not Scenarios/Operations.

In what way is 1.0 different from .99, the one I'm playing right now.

[David Stone]

Anybody have info on the 'speed' of the cmhq scenario section?

Is it frequently slow if it is swamped with up & downloading?

Stoner

[Pak40]

JeffRaider, Here's the Genereal Briefing which lists some of the changes. I highly recommend playing this version over the Beta version. You will see a big difference from which direction the Germans attack.

Version 1.0 (see changes below)

Arnhem Road Bridge

Arnhem, The Netherlands

September 17, 1944

Allies-

As allies you command Lt. Col. Frost's 2nd Parachute Battalion+ and try to hold the Arnhem road bridge for several days until XXX Corps arrives.

Germans-

As Germans you must use Ad hoc units and SS reserves to try and wrestle the bridge from the British Troopers.

*****

VICTORY CONDITIONS - ignore the computer's point total at the end of the operation. The winner of the operation is whoever controls the block of houses(or rubble) at the north end of the bridge by op's end:

Draw - If the Germans have only one unit in any of these houses and the British have the others, then the operation is a draw(but considered better than the Historical result).

German Victory - If the British contol none of these buildings or are totally wiped out.

British Minor Victory - If the British hold all of the houses surrounding the north span of the Bridge.

British Major Victory - If the British hold all of the houses surrounding the north span of the Bridge AND have at least 3 uncaptured and unbroken units on the south side of the bridge within 40 meters(two tiles) of any part of the bridge span.

*****

This operation, if played vs the computer, should be played as the Allies. If the computer is set to the Allied side, then I doubt that the AI will even attempt to capture the bridge since there is no way to assign victory flags in an operation (serious design flaw in the operation editor, IMO). However, this should play great as a two person game.

This battle is a test to see if the British side can hold out better than they did historically. It is not meant to play out until XXX arrives, which was many days behind the planned schedule and way out of scope of this operation.

*****

This is a beta version of the op. It has not been tested yet. It is quite possible that at some points in the operation, there will A LOT of units on the map. You may need a powerful computer or just be patient as the computer crunches the numbers. I have no idea at this point if this is even a very play balanced operation. All I can say is that it is historically accurate, for the most part, which was my goal.

Feedback is welcome and encouraged, good or bad: jroland2@home.com

*****

DESIGNERS NOTES (blah blah blah):

If you're wondering why I made an Arnhem Bridge Operation when Combat Mission came with it's own version, the answer is simple: Historical Accuracy. I guess I'm kind of picky when it comes to creating these historical battles and I was appalled when I first loaded the CM version of the Arnhem Bridge Op. There isn't much historical about the CM version, either in the order of battles or the geography. Aside from the river and the fact that there's a bridge - the geography of the city of Arnhem is completely wrong. The order of battles for both sides are lacking many important units that participated in the battle.

My version of the Operation is as historical as I could get it with the resources I have: A Bridge Too Far (Ryan) and It Never Snows in September (Kershaw). Both provided excellent aerial photos around the bridge. Kershaw's book was excellent for the German OOB and a great high altitude aerial of the entire city, which is how I derived the layout of the streets farther away from the bridge. Ryan's book was great for determining appoximately how many units made it to the bridge perimeter and of what type. This is very important because there were some important units ommitted from the CM version that should have been included in the operation (I wont list them here because it will spoil the battle for the Germans).

Other sources include a table of organization for a British parachute battalion in 1944 that I photo copied from some book several years ago and two Close Combat maps: Arnhem Bridge and Arnhem West Approach(loosly used).

How my Arnhem city is more accurate than the one in CM:

1) First off, the layout of the city in the CM version is totally wrong. The streets are layed out in the midwest grid pattern which is never seen in Europe. I got the basic city street pattern from carefully studing the photos mentioned above. There are lots of curves and places where streets meet at odd angles - mine is much more accurate although I was quite limited with CM's tileset.

2) The park area extending from the brige is much too short in the CM version. Also, I made the park angle off to the left at about 45 degrees. The church should not be at the end of the park either. The two churches that I found in the aerials are off of the parkway.

3) The CM version has the houses and other buildings way way way too spread apart. Arnhem is a very urban area (although in reality a small city) with buildings jumbled and adjacent to each other. The typical streets are narrow, sometimes too narrow to even show up on the aerial photos. I have tried to emmulate this jumbled mass of buildings as best I could without making the map a computer resource hog. This will greatly reflect the close street fighting, hopefully. However, this may make the operation a real pain when it comes to finding all of your men on the map.

4) Tried to simulate the dense gardens and backyards that are usually found in the center of every city block. The 2nd Parachute battalion used these gardens with great success to reach the bridge and also to defend against. Remeber the sceens from the movie A Bridge Too Far?

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VERSION 1.0 CHANGES

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After some feedback from players and a purchase of a new book "A Tour of The Arnhem Battlefields", I had enough info to release a new version. Most of the changes are in the Allied Order Of Battle, of which this new book has an excellent recording. Here are all the changes (If I can remember them all):

1) I wont ruin the surprise for either side but I added several units that were missing from the Allied OOB. I also named every British Company HQ unit, not after their commander, but after the unit name. (due to CM defaults, you will see something like "Capt HQ 1st Para Bgd"; the "Capt" part I cannot delete, CM puts it there automatically.

2) Made Frost's unit Padlocked, so that you can find him easier in the setup.

3) Deleted a German 75mm Pillbox that I accidentally left in the corner of the map. Added two german units (again, I wont spoil the surprise) to the setup and one of the reinforcements.

4) Due to a bug in CM 1.03, the No Man's Land was getting reset to 400m. This bug is fixed in CM 1.04, the no mans land is now zero to reflect the close street fighting. and major infiltration that occured on both sides.

5) New aerial photos have revealed a tree blvd along the river, so I added some trees.

6) A few minor cosmetic things on the map.

7) Changes to all briefings.

8) This Operation is now CM version 1.04 or higher only.

9) Changes direction in which Germans attack from.

10) Grouped British soldiers better in the setup.

11) Providing text files of briefings and screen shot of British setup so that the British player can be more organized at setup time. (See ARNHEM_README.TXT)