COMING SOON – The Scheldt Campaign

cover – all artwork by Kerry Anderson

Kerry Anderson has done some wonderful artwork on The Scheldt Campaign and the game will soon be ready for release through the Microgame Design Group. This game will feature a 17×22″ map and 244 die-cut counters!

This will be the first board wargame to focus exclusively on the clearing of the Scheldt Estuary by the First Canadian Army, an important campaign that has received scant interest in history.

CSW discussion area at http://talk.consimworld.com/WebX/.1dd6f4d9/0?14@@

BGG game entry at http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/125416/the-scheldt-campaign for a look at some graphics samples (well, they are all reproduced here, but can be viewed at different sizes there).

small section of the map

The game uses a heavily adapted version of the Staff Card system first seen in Joe Miranda’s seminal game Bulge 20. 

Each player has a C2 Level which represents the maximum number of Staff cards he may have in his hand at any one time. The current C2 Level also determines how many Tactical Units the player may have under command of a single Task Force HQ at one time. Also, the mix of Staff Cards differs between the German and Allied sides.

Each Player selects his hand of Staff Cards from those in his Available Pile during his Planning Phase at the end of his Player Turn. Cards remain in your hand until played or your ensuing Planning Phase, at which time you keep or discard any cards in your hand and then select back up to your current C2 Level (thus planning out your next turn).

In the game you have four kinds of staff cards, with the following functions:

G-1 (Administration):

• Enter reinforcement units (not in Isolated hexes);
• Recover 1-3 Hits from Tactical Units (only one card per Tactical unit, and if not Isolated)

G-2 (Intelligence):

• Regroup Tactical Units in Operations Zone of a Task Force HQ;
• Play in Battle sequence to take or keep Tactical Advantage (first fire);
• Play any time to inspect enemy card hand or OOB Mat for 30 seconds

G-3 (operations):

• Conduct Tactical Movement with one unit (which can be anything from a single battalion to a Task Force HQ fully loaded with combat brigades and supporting arms);
• Conduct an Attack

G-4 (Logistics):

• conduct Strategic Movement (either triple MF with one unit, or cross-Scheldt movement with one Tactical Unit);
• Play in Commitment step of Battle sequence to give Combat Support (German can play one for artillery; Allied can play one for artillery and one for Air Support)

Also, the combat system uses multiple dice so that units wear away as they take hits and become less capable. There are never enough Staff Cards so you have to balance out the need to push on vs. the risk of burning out your front line units.

section of the counter sheet