It doesnt take a lot to get me into a wargaming mood.  Dusty Confederate soldiers marching in their butternut and greys towards one last battlefield, panzers slinking toward unsuspecting Polish troops, ancient Japanese armies on the move among the mountains of their sacred homelandall of these call me away from my work and invite me to lose an houror fewrecreating history or making a history that never was. Some are deep, grognard-worthy simulations that require dedication and vast amounts of my time; others lean towards the easier to play but fun category. Battle Academy falls solidly into the second mix, with its comic-book artwork signaling that you should relax a little and expect to have some fun. And with their latest offering, Operation Market Garden, Slitherine keeps the party going.

I had not played any of the Battle Academy games before reviewing Operation Market Garden, so between my vast experience as a digital General and the inviting premise of the cartoon graphics, I fired up the game expecting a cakewalk. Being a mans man, I like to jump into a gameand life..feet first, then go back and try to figure out anything that stumps me as needed, and in this Battle Academy rewarded my playing style. The game is simple to learn, a little trial and a little error and you are on your way. It looked like a fine introductory wargame, easy pickings for an experienced gaming veteran like me to wile away a few hours with. So I fired up the first scenario with American airborne troops determined to take a bridge and hold it against a counterattack.

Many hours and battles later, I found myself remembering the time when I was a kid and I introduced a new gerbil to my first pet gerbil, both males as it turned out. They immediately fought, a ball of fur flying everywhere, and I put my hand into the cage to separate them. Gerbils are cute. Battle Academy: Operation Market Garden is cute.

Both have teeth.

 

"Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well-trained, well-equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely" -Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower

In Battle Academy: Operation Market Gardden, you are playing scenarios in an ongoing, turn-based campaign. At the start of each battle, you are given objectives to fulfill, which may involve killing so many tanks, taking an objective, holding a defensive point or simply staying alive. As I have alluded to, the comic book graphics and introductory wargame status lulled me into underestimating how much game I had here. That didnt last long. Introductory or not, the action unfolds quickly and the enemy plays aggressive ball. In the first battle, your airborne troops have to quickly gather themselves, take a key bridge, hold both the bridge and your landing position, andoh yeah, can you maybe take out an AA position or two? And hurrythe Waffen SS seems to have noticed your arrival!

The first thing that struck me was how well Battle Academy: Operation Market Garden nails the art of combined warfare. At the squad level, a simple thing like a HMG mounted on the back of an APC can be dangerous, and a tank or well-emplaced gun can mess up your whole day. But each squad has the ability to take out bigger, badder enemies if they can get close enough, and the elements of air support and artillery can often close the gap, making your opponent keep a low profile while you move within range. Cover and terrain are important and well executed, but to somewhat offset the defensive advantages, a firing unit may suppress an enemy, even if that enemy cannot be seen. Since you can move and fire, if you suspect that the building ahead might be an excellent place for an ambush, you can open up on it and possibly make any hidden enemies dive for cover, or at least ventilate the building for more efficient summertime cooling. Bazookas, mortars, machine guns, tanks, transport units for your infantry, all of these things and more come into play on the battlefield, and the more effective you are at using them in conjunction with one another, the greater your chances of victory.

Your units gather experience, gradually adding muscle and becoming more dangerous the longer they survive. Every time you destroy an enemy, your troops get a little better, in turn increasing their survivability. Line of sight is a big factor in this game, and if you stumble into the range of an enemy, he might welcome you with a deadly burst of gunfire. By the same token, your units can lie in ambush awaiting quick-marching German troops who are rushing to reinforce a key defensive point or to flush out your squads. Infantry is handled superbly here. In too many games, infantry is just an afterthought next to their armored cousins, as cannon fodder for the big guns, but in Battle Academy: Operation Market Garden, infantry holds their own. Expect trouble for the armored vehicle which tries to speed by an infantry unit hidden in the tall grass or behind some rubble. An infantry squad is more than capable of taking out a tank that ventures too close, and the emplaced gun that has been ruining your day had best keep the lowly foot soldiers at bay, or they will take that gun and stick it.ummm.in storage someplace safe. Yeah.

 

"We just want to get the Hell over there!" -General George S. Patton.

The game plays quickly and easily, but has a deceiving depth to it. The AI is beatable for certain, but it will push you and occasionally defeat you, and you will feel for the most part that your victories were hard earned. Battle Academy: Operation Market Garden is of course a continuation of the much-awarded Battle Academy series and reflects their commitment to improving the game with each new addition. Operation Market Garden does just that, showcasing a near desperate phase of the war where the Allies were building momentum towards certain victory but were still vulnerable, while the Germans were as yet undefeated and still dangerous.

Ive already mentioned the graphics in passing. In some ways, the game looks like a Sgt.Rock comic. This is obviously a deliberate design choice that was certainly a gamble when Battle Academy first rolled out. Personally, I like it. It works great on this scale, the various units are clearly identifiable, and it brings a certain charm to the game. In Battle Academy: Operation Market Garden you are unmistakably playing a wargame, the units have the capacities that you would expect according to class, they move and react as infantry/armor/guns should do, and the graphics are well done and helpful in their presentation. It is properly classified as an introductory wargame due, if nothing else, to the ease in which you can move into playing it, and if you are playing a wargame for the first time, the Battle Academy series will certainly introduce or reinforce certain tactical concepts to you without requiring you to quit your day job.

 

"Casualties many; Percentage of dead not known; Combat efficiency; we are winning."  -Colonel David M. Shoup - (Tarawa) - 21st November 1943

Sometimes Im in the mood for a grand operational game that gives me control of everything down to the amount of toilet paper front line units receive, and I want to be able to alter the tech choices and try to get the bomb/jet fighters/electric can openers before they were actually available. I literally cant watch some old movies that try to pawn off American Patton tanks for World War II German Tigers, because I know the difference and it ruins the movie for me. I like choices in my games, and I like chrome. But Ive gotten to the age where I value playability as well, so Ive become somewhat willing to compromise where my gaming time is concerned. Give me chrome, lots of chrome, but dont force me to make lifestyle choices in order to play your $80 megagame which might end up on my shelf unopened, mocking me, because I dont have the 20 hours necessary to learn how to play. The Battle Academy series has become the kind of game I scoop up because it scratches my wargamer itch, because it is playable, because it recreates a time/era/battle of interest to me, and because it is fun. Here is a secret: there is nothing wrong with funjust dont tell your children, they dont need to know!

Lets seethe soundtrack and effects, while not elaborate, add to the gaming experience. Nine times out of ten I will either turn off a games music and/or sound effects, or lower the settings because I find the music/sounds distracting or even downright annoying. Not so here. The soundtrack is well done and manages to add to the gaming experience without calling attention to itself. Perfect!

Minuses? Not every unit or piece of equipment in the game is necessarily modeled to its precise historical abilities; as in most non-grognard games, there are some choices made for playability and game balance here. There are always decisions made in game design between playability and historical accuracy, and while Battle Academy: Operation Market Garden is certainly accurate enough to please, hard core gamers will no doubt find items of contention. For many of us however, we are looking for a fun gaming experience that recreates reasonably well a war that we are familiar with, no doubt because of the many times we have gamed the era. Battle Academy: Operation Market Garden does that well.

Replayability is so-so, unless you are into online gaming, which I did not test. I can certainly see playing through the entire series and breaking it out again in a year, just for the fun value. But for serious gamers, there are simply too many good games and too little time. Battle Academy: Operation Market Garden and the Battle Academy series are really good games, worth the price of admission, but not classics. Im actually going back and purchasing past releases of Battle Academy to play, such as Blitzkrieg France, but its a flirtation, not true love, and neither of us are wearing a ring. Just enjoy the attention Battle Academyits a friends with benefits deal for us both.

Overall, I can recommend Operation Market Garden and the Battle Academy series with no hesitation. Undo your collar button. Kick your shoes off. Get a cold drink, sit down at your computer and have some fun. After all, isnt that why we are gamers?

 

Review by: Chris Steelgrave Mohon, Staff Writer

 

Despite speculation, Chris did not actually fight in World War II. Hopefully this will kill off some rumors.

(Editors note: we discovered that Chris actually fought in the Thumb Wars)