New Zealand Division on Crete 1941; the game

[Rhys]

Afer the first 6 parts we actually get to the game.
Several parts to come.

[Steve J]

Thanks again for this Rhys . Interesting to see that the Germans further East were widely dispersed as happened historically. A nice idea for dicing for dispersal, which I might borrow and see how it works. It's one thing I've been pondering on how best to do.

[Rhys]

I couldn't think of a way to create the chaos of a bad drop. Using dice in this way you could juggle the equation to replicate the drops in Normandy or Sicily at night.

[Rhys]

Just posted part 8 with the first of 2 accounts of the battle. The first post is from the keyboard of Paulr of this parish, demostrating that if he ever packs IT in he might have a career in historical fiction.

[Rhys]

And to follow up the last post, Paulr Tells me he commanded 3 FJR so the actual writer was Richard who in his day job was/is a history teacher. This meemory thing is awfully tricky.

[Rhys]

Part 9 posted (second to last part I promise!). Pauls writeup of his part in the refight.

[Steve J]

Looking forward to reading these Rhys .

[paulr]

That brings back a lot of memories

As I've mentioned before on the forum my favourite memory from that game was the confusion we caused at a local Fish & Chips shop while waiting for our lunch to be cooked. We were busily discussing the game and suddenly the shop owner asked why we were talking about his parents tiny village in Crete, most Cretans had no idea where it was

It also reminds me how easy it is to concentrate on immediate problems and lose focus on key objectives. The report tactfully describes not moving onto the coast road as "a missed opportunity". In our pre-game planning it was a key objective of 3FJR as we knew the roads historic importance. Blocking or even delaying the Aussie and armour reinforcements on the road would have made the counter attack on Maleme much harder for the Kiwis

I had misremembered that it was the Regimental commander that was stuck in the damn tree rather than the commander of VII Pioneer Battalion

[fred.]

Thanks for taking the time to share these Rhys - sounds like an epic game - that has lived long in the memories of the players!

[paulr]

It definitely was epic and has lived long, if sometimes inaccurately, in our memories

[Rhys]

I resemble that remark....

And the final part (for those of you still following after 9 previous instalments) is now up.
Paul summarises his thoughts on the game (he's handy like that) and then I have my 2 cents to finish.
Thanks for reading.