Being an armchair general in France 1944

Ever since I was young, I had a fascination with military strategy games. I began by playing with plastic toy soldiers (complete with bunkers and tanks, playing mats and all that stuff). Then, I saw my first strategy board game - France 1944. It was a game made by Avalon Hill (this company is now a subsidiary. Unfortunately, I forgot the name of the new parent company.). The game is about the Allied invasion of France and the battles in France against the Germans in WW2. The game ends when the Allied player reaches specified goals before the time expires. If the Allied player does not reach any of the goals, he is defeated and the German player wins.

The game was relatively easy to learn, and very easy to play. Unfortunately, no one wanted to play with me. My brothers were either too young to understand, or found the game too boring (being hooked on Dungeons and Dragons). So I played it alone, even though it was supposed to be a two-player game.

When I began playing it, I was more interested with the German side. I loved the ratings its armor units had - which were way, way higher than those of the Allies. Their armor units were faster, stronger and can withstand more damage (in this game, a half-strength German armor division can engage a full-strength Allied armor division one-on-one and still win!). However, the Allies had the advantage of superior numbers (the lowest rating an Allied infantry corps had was 25% higher than a comparable German unit, except for the 2nd Parachute Corps, which was equal, quality-wise to an Allied corps in set-piece battles, but was weak in running battles.), having air support (light and heavy bombers) and supplies and replacements. The German side lose their replacements for their units because of the famous Battle of the Bulge where they risked everything for a quick victory. So in effect, I was drawn to playing the German side because of the real challenge to make the Germans win by being cautious and trade space for time so that I can have most of my units intact for the final defense of Germany. When I play the Allies, however, I realize that I must keep the Germans at arms length and constantly engage them to weaken their units. The less units they have, the better chance I have of winning.

Setting up the game required a preparation of almost 30 minutes because as I said, I was playing alone. Then the game, as I played it, would last for about 2-3 hours. I remember locking my room and playing it for the whole morning and afternoon, stopping only to eat and relieve myself.

I have forgotten how many times the Germans won, or how many times the Allies won because for me that was irrelevant. The most important thing for me, while I played this game was the thrill of imagining myself as a general in command of troops in an actual battle. That spurred me into buying two other strategy board games - Dark Emperor and Bull Run, which I actually played until some years ago (exactly when I started working).