• A subject that has come up from time to time in house rule discussions is the topic of elite forces in general, and of Commandos in particular when UK elite forces are involved.  In case this is of any use to house rule designers, I’ve accidentally come across an example of an interesting WWII Commando raid that I’d never heard about (though I’m sure Narvik is familiar with it): Operation Archery, also known as the Maloy Raid, an attack (largely aimed at demolition) against the Norwegian island of Maloy.  It was conducted in late December 1941 (you can read about it on Wikipedia), and a couple of things about it are notable.  First, it wasn’t a quiet infiltration operation; it was actually conducted more like a full-blown amphibious landing, complete with naval gunfire support.  Second, and even more interestingly, it was an operation in which the attackers, who were elite / special forces types (British Commandos, plus some Norwegian troops) unexpectedly ran into a defending force who (what are the odds?) were also elite / special forces types: German Gebirgsjager mountain rangers, who had served on the Eastern Front and who’d been sent to Maloy on leave (presumably because it was considered to be a quiet sector).  This resulted in much tougher fighting than expected – though, overall, the attackers fared much better than the British 1st Airborne Division did at Arnhem in 1944 when it too unexpectedly ran into some German units that were on leave in a supposedly quiet sector: elements of a couple of Waffen SS Panzer divisions.


  • Right, and what kind of House Rule do you suggest ?

    The OOB way to deal with this would be to land a man in Norway combined with some Battleship shore bombardment. Not a good trade but it weakens the Axis more than it weaken UK.


  • The problem with Commando’s in terms of usage of a board game is that they are technically irregular infantry. So I play an online AnA type game called Superpowers where the special unit in that game, the commando works like an artillery piece that can attack on its own, so it goes into the territory, does it attack and if they defender doesn’t kill it, it returns to the territory it came from but it can’t take territory ever because it is programmed like artillery.


  • @Caesar:

    The problem with Commando’s in terms of usage of a board game is that they are technically irregular infantry. So I play an online AnA type game called Superpowers where the special unit in that game, the commando works like an artillery piece that can attack on its own, so it goes into the territory, does it attack and if they defender doesn’t kill it, it returns to the territory it came from but it can’t take territory ever because it is programmed like artillery.

    Yep

    Commando (2 Max on map ) in AA game can move 6 spaces on land or sea and make a 1 time attack per round each on any piece with a no defense shot. If it stays then it can be attacked or if it has movement left it can leave territory its in and move out.

    Or I have in UKs event card deck,  1 card saying any 2 Commandos on map can do a Raid attack with the above rule.

    Heaven forbid. Time to JAZZ up these games !!!

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