D-Day to Berlin: The Zoom Game
by Russ Lockwood
I had only expected to sit at the virtual table quietly and observe for an hour, but being able to be the sixth player was a treat. He ran it via Zoom, using a couple of cameras and performing all the movement, die rolling, and camera positioning. It's tough enough to be a GM at a 'convention' game, but having to do everything on the tabletop for the camera is even tougher. Nothing but praise from us players for Chris' efforts.
Game Scale
The demo game was set during the Battle of the Bulge, with the US counterattack. The goal for the Americans was to grab three towns (one in each division's sector). The Germans had to hold the towns.
DDtB makes the player a division commander, with each stand equaling a battalion. Each square on the table is 2.5 miles, and you can fit four stands plus a HQ into a square.
It's a big scale, so tactical gamers will have to make allowances. You're a division commander, not a company or platoon commander.
We Americans had three divisions: the 3rd Armored, my 80th Infantry, and the 33rd Infantry. I had not heard of the 33rd at the Bulge, but since US infantry divisions followed roughly the same TO&E, it could have been any infantry division. As it turns out, the 33rd served in the Pacific Theater, sez Wikipedia.
The three German divisions were the 5th Fallschirmjager (opposite the 3rd Armored), the Fuhrer Begleit Division (opposite my 80th Infantry), and the 26th Volksgrenadier Division (opposite the 33rd Infantry). OK, so Umpire Chris took a few liberties…
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***
gets his hands on some fields and fences.
