COMMANDO n°4: Dieppe 1942

"Commando 4 en action: Dieppe 1942" is a solitaire tactical wargame appearing in the French Vae Victis magazine #131 (special game edition).

It simulates the British commandos raid under Lord Lovat's command (Operation Cauldron) to destroy a powerful German battery (code name Hess) near Varengeville (in Normandy) during the famous August 19th 1942 Dieppe operation. During this operation, the British landed by Landing Craft Assault (LCA) on Orange I & II, were ordered to destroy the six 155mm guns battery, capture German soldiers, cut telephone wire and finally embark all in the waiting LCA.

The game is edited under ziplock and contains an A3-size map depicting Varengeville (close to Dieppe) surroundings (scale at 1/25000), 108 counters (the 2 formation of British commandos lead by lieutenant colonel Lovat and Mills-Robert ; German coastal defense, Luftwaffe guards, MGs, Flak, mines, wires, pill-boxes and part of 571th infantry regiment reinforcements ; activation and other markers). One typical counter unit represents around 10 men. The rules are included in a separate 16 pages A5-sized booklet. Very easy to learn and fun to play !

The duration of the game is 12 turns from 4:45 to 07:30 am. The player plays the British side first each turn and then the activated german units fight, move and get reinforcements in this respective order. Except for the coastal defenses, the German units are not represented on the map at the beginning. Instead, several randomly selected activation markers are deployed in specific areas of the map. The combination of proximity to British units and alert level may trigger an activation marker that may hide 0 to 4 German units. These activated units may then fight and move. German move is dictated by closest (in PM) and largest enemy stack or German stack. Combat - Fire and/or Assault - is resolved by comparing the strength of both adjacent stacks modified by the presence of an officer, the terrain modifier and 1D6 for the British and 1D10 for the Germans. Largest score inflicts one step loss to the other. Sniper and mortar section are represented with special effects on the game. The British must score at least 10 victory points to get a marginal victory. More than 20 is a decisive victory. The historical score is 24 VP.