MARKET GARDEN 28mm convention game full AAR Part I

[Mad Guru]

After spending the night of Sept. 18th and early morning of Sept. 19th 1944 racing up the last stretch of the just-cleared Hell's Highway, XXX Corps crosses Nijmegen Bridge in preparation for…





…Traversing the swampy ground known as "The Island" located between the Waal and Rhine rivers, along the last stretch of road between Nijmegen and their final objective of Arnhem…

…Where they reached the last remnants of Col. John Frost's 2nd Battalion, 1st Parachute Regt., First Parachute Division -- now reduced to Company strength and holding on by the skin-of-their-teeth inside one building adjacent to the North end of the bridge…



…achieving VICTORY against the odds for the Allied Forces!



To read a bit more and see a bunch more pics, come visit my blog at this LINK, and thanks in advance should you choose to do so:

https://maiwandday.blogspot.com/2024/10/xxx-corps-reach-last-few-brit-paras.html



The game was played all day and night this past Saturday September 28th and for approx. 3 hrs. on the morning of Sunday September 29th, at the annual HMGS-Pacific South West MINI-WARS convention, held this year at the Howard Johnson by Wyndham in Fullerton/Anaheim, California.

During the course of the game we had 10 players cycle through, with several staying the whole time and a couple others unable to keep from returning after having left to do other very cool stuff for a while!

I will return to my blog and to this Second World War Board with a more detailed AAR of the entire game, but for now I wanted to provide at least a cursory AAR for various people who've been asking how the game went.

We had EIGHTEEN 6 ft. x 2.5 ft. tables arranged into 2 XXL tables each 18 ft. x 7.5 ft., for a total of 270 square feet of tabletop space. I've been playing miniature wargames since I was about 10 years old and I'm 59, and this was the largest wargaming surface I've GM'ed or played on in those 49 years.

One last pic showing lead element of the Polish Parachute Brigade advancing onto Arnhem Bridge after successfully dropping onto "The Island" and advancing North…

[Tom Dulski]

 I was checking out you blog that was a pretty epic table set up.

[warburton]

Very impressive!

[CapnJim]

That's very impressive in scale, both in terms of effort and the game(s) itself.  Bravo!

[Mad Guru]

Thanks very much, Tom Dulski, warburton & CapnJim!

Just posted PART I of the full-blown AAR for the game on my blog.

This covers the glider and parachute landings...





...XXX Corps' preparatory artillery barrage...





...lead elements of XXX Corps starting to move North on the highway...



...and initial German ambushes in response...



If you're interested I invite you to use this link and visit my blog to read more about it and see a lot more pics, and thanks advance for your time, should you choose to do so:

https://maiwandday.blogspot.com/2024/10/operation-market-garden-80-full-aar.html

PS. I hope to be back with more posts continuing the AAR before too long...

[CapnJim]

Looks great so far!

Did you have Michael Caine in a Dingo leading that tank column?

[Mad Guru]

We had the Dingo!!!  As seen here keeping the main route through recently-liberated Eindhoven clear for vital reinforcements heading North:



PS. I'm pretty sure this pic was taken at the very end of Saturday night or maybe early on Sunday morning, after XXX Corps had got all the way to the Nijmegen Bridge.  By that point in the game Michael Caine's -- AKA LtCol. J.O.E. Vandeleur -- own Dingo was far up the road atop Nijmegen Bridge in preparation for the final push into Arnhem.  In reality they were waiting for game play on the Arnhem table to CATCH UP to the same point in the timeline which the Hell's Highway table had reached the night before, which I believe was 5 turns further, thanks to one player on each side wanting to stay through the dinner break and keep playing!  I doubt we have such a pic but if I find one I'll come back and add it!

HISTORICAL FOOTNOTE: During Operation Market Garden, when Lt.Col. J.O.E. Vandeleur was the commanding officer of 3rd Battalion Irish guards, his COUSIN Lt.Col. Giles Vandeleur commanded the 2nd Armored Battalion of the Irish Guards.

[MaleGriffin]

Incredible looking game and great AAR!