Crowbar: The Rangers at Pointe du Hoc, June 6th, 1944
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A commanding voice shouts “Crowbar!” from the
carefully monitored radios of Ranger Flotilla headquarters aboard the LSI
command ship St. James. With that signal,
the 225 men of Dog, Easy and Fox Companies of Force “A” of the 2nd Ranger
Battalion launched one of the most incredible and seemingly impossible assaults
of military history.
Tasked with landing on the beaches of Normandy,
France and scaling the towering 100-foot cliffs at Pointe Du Hoc in the face of
determined German defenders, the Rangers were the only force that could
possibly meet this challenge. Despite initially heading in the wrong direction
and landing in jumbled order, the elite Rangers were eager to begin their ascent.
Their mission was to find and destroy the six huge 155mm artillery pieces that Field Marshall Erwin Rommel had deployed in the area. These guns had to be neutralized lest they rain down
a massive barrage on the American forces landing at Omaha and Utah Beaches. And if
that wasn’t enough, the Rangers were also ordered to set up roadblocks on the
Vierville-Grandcamp highway to delay and harass any Wehrmacht reinforcements
from reaching and counterattacking the D-Day landings.
The Ranger battalion climbed the massive heights
against stiff resistance and advanced inland, suffering severe casualties in
the process. They took many of the German positions, but no guns were to be
found. The Rangers then fought off vicious counterattacks, launched by the
German grenadier regiments, and were nearly pushed back into
the sea. But under the inspired leadership of Lt. Col. James Earl Rudder, the
Rangers held on and eventually found and destroyed the concealed guns and established
the needed roadblocks. Bravery and perseverance won the day for
the Rangers as they completed another successful chapter in their glorious
history.
Crowbar!: The Rangers at Pointe Du Hoc is a solitaire wargame (with two-player
and cooperative variants) which abstractly simulates the ebb, flow and risk of
the Pointe du Hoc assault, with you playing the attacking Rangers. The game
system traces its parentage to the popular In
Magnificent Style game and mirrors its speed of play, tough decision-making
and heart-pounding push-your-luck excitement. But Crowbar! has been updated to allow for an even smoother gameplay
experience. For example, instead of the old “dice matrix” system to determine unit
movement results, the game now utilizes four custom Movement Dice. Each die is
made up of different results, escalating the possible risk/reward ratio. Dice
are thrown one at a time and can be read instantly to determine what happens to
the unit. The system also challenges you with even more events, including
constant German counterattacks, ammunition shortages, artillery bombardments,
booby traps and other surprises. Your goal is to meet your various objectives as
quickly as possible, before the German defenders can dig in even deeper and
before they can organize effective counterattacks. Ultimate success or failure in
the game is measured by how well you do as compared to the actual heroic accomplishments
of the Rangers on that historic day. Are you up to the challenge?
Game Components:
252 – 1” counters
1 – 22” x 34” mounted map
18 – Timing Cards
4 – Movement Dice
10 – Six-sided Combat Dice
1 – Game Tracks Card
1 – Player Aid Card
1 – Rulebook