El Último Puente Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• 1. Game Components
• 2. Explanation of the Components
  • 2.1. The Board
  • 2.2. The Counters
  • 2.3. Sample Counter
  • 2.4. The Die
• 3. Number of Players
  • Unit Types
• 4. Length of the Game
• 5. Who Wins the Game?
• 6. Placing the Counters at the Start of the Game
• 7. The Drop of the Allied Paratroopers and Airborne Units
  • A. Dropping individual counters
  • B. Dropping counters in a group
• 8. Movement of the Counters
• 9. Combat
• 10. Engineers and Crossing Rivers
• 11. Artillery Counters
• 12. Sequence of Play

1. Game Components

• A board representing the part of Holland where the fighting took place.
• Six die-cut sheets of counters.
• Two plastic trays to store the counters.
• A special wargame die.
• A historical introduction.
• This instruction booklet.

2. Explanation of the Components

2.1. The Board

The board is a map of the territory in which the airborne operation and the battle of Arnhem took place.

The following features on it affect the game:

• Cities: drawings of groups of houses, seen from the air, that occupy one or several hexes.
• Roads: grey lines that join or pass through cities.
• Rivers: dark blue lines, bordered by black lines.
• Canals: light blue lines, bordered by black lines, with black cross-strokes that represent the locks.
• Woods: dark green areas.
• Set-up zones at the start of the game: hexes with black stars, in which, at the start of the game, both players must place the units indicated in them.
• Hexes with a black capital letter, which are the concealment zones of the German troops, in which, at the start of the game, the "German" player may place his counters as he chooses.
• Destroyed bridges: placed over rivers or canals.
• Paratrooper drop diagram, which shows, relative to any drop point, the landing point according to the die roll.
• A track numbered from one to twelve, to mark the turns, on one of the sides of the board: each time the two players complete one movement each and their respective combats, the turn marker counter is advanced one space.

2.2. The Counters

General classification:

• Allied armies:
  • British: yellow background with red content.
  • Americans: yellow background with green content.
  • Poles: yellow background with black content.
• German army:
  • S.S.: black background with white content.
  • Luftwaffe: light blue background with black content.
  • The rest of the units with grey background and black content.

The Luftwaffe counters represent units of this army that took part in the battle of Arnhem as ground units.

Apart from the counters for the units of the two sides, there are other special ones, which are:

• Bridges: white background with black content.
• Group paratrooper drop counters: yellow background with black content.

2.3. Sample Counter

All the counters of the two armies have four characteristics that make them different from one another, but which, in turn, are repeated in the same way on all of them. These characteristics are:

(Diagram: a counter marked "43 D." at the top (Unit name), a unit-type symbol in the centre (Type of unit), a "4" at lower left (Combat factor) and a "4" at lower right (Movement factor).)

• Unit name: reproduced from the real units that took part in the battle.
• Unit type: artillery, infantry, paratroopers, etc.
• Combat factor: the operational capacity of the counter, that is, the fighting strength it is able to concentrate in a combat. It is used to engage in combat between the different counters.
• Movement factor: the distance, in hexes, that each counter is able to cover, as a maximum, in order to engage in combat in each turn, although it may make a smaller move or not move at all.

The displacement factor, which is not shown on the counter, is the distance in hexes that a counter is able to cover, as a maximum, in any turn, to transfer from one point of the board to another. The displacement factor of a counter is double its movement factor. This factor cannot be used to approach an enemy counter and engage it in combat in that turn.

2.4. The Die

It is used to resolve combats and represents the "luck factor". So that it is not disproportionate, it is a special die that has neither a "one" nor a "six", having one "two", two "threes", two "fours" and one "five", so that the chance of a similar result is more even.

3. Number of Players

"El Último Puente" allows two to four players, always on two sides. The possibilities offered are the following:

• Two players: one with the Allies and the other with the Germans.
• Three players: one with the Germans and the other two with the Allies, one taking all the paratrooper and airborne units and the other the XXX Army Corps.
• Four players: two with the Germans, dividing the front by sectors, and two with the Allies, one taking all the paratrooper and airborne units and the other the XXX Army Corps.

Unit Types

(Symbol chart.) Infantry; Tanks; Field artillery; Self-propelled artillery; Anti-tank artillery; Mechanized infantry; Anti-aircraft artillery; Engineers; Paratrooper infantry; Glider (airborne) infantry; Glider (airborne) mechanized infantry; Paratrooper engineers; Paratrooper anti-tank artillery; Bridges; Group paratrooper drop.

4. Length of the Game

• The game is governed by the concept of turns, which consists of the movement and complete resolution of the combats of both contenders, once each.
• The length of the game is twelve turns.
• Each time a turn is completed, the NAC "turn marker" counter is advanced one space on the track found on one of the sides of the board.
• The length of the game in real time, as the turn mechanism is used, depends on the players' capacity for reflection and speed of movement, and it is normal to complete the game in a time ranging between an hour and a half and two hours.
• The game always begins with the Allied army, which is the attacker, so the order within a single turn must always be: first the movement of the "Allied" counters and the resolution of the combats they bring about, and then, but within the same turn, the movements and resolution of the combats brought about by the "Germans", with which the turn is completed.

5. Who Wins the Game?

Victory in "El Último Puente" can be obtained:

• For the Allies: if they manage to control completely, at the end of the game, the road between Eindhoven and Arnhem, and the cities found on it, including the two mentioned above, which was the objective of the operation. The Allies achieve this in the game when no German counter is found on the road and in the cities mentioned.
• The Germans win when the Allies do not achieve their objective.

Besides this, in any case the following always wins:

• Whoever totally annihilates his enemy.
• Whoever, in any turn, has a number of counters three times greater than his opponent's.
• Whoever obtains the surrender of his opponent.

6. Placing the Counters at the Start of the Game

At the start of the game the bridge counters are placed on the river or canal hexes where a destroyed bridge appears.

Both the "German" player and the "Allied" player have some counters that have a fixed placement at the start of the game and others that are freely placed.

The fixed-placement counters at the start of the game of both armies have mandatory placement zones marked on the board by hexes with a black star.

The placement of the counters will therefore begin with both sides placing their fixed-placement counters on their respective marks on the board, that is, in the hexes marked with black stars and the six around them, close to the printing on the board of the name of their unit. It must be borne in mind for the Allied counters that all those that are not paratroopers or airborne belong to the XXX Army Corps.

Next the "German" places his freely placed counters. These may be placed openly on the board or be hidden in the concealment zones of the board, which are the hexes marked with a black capital letter, but in any case, always North of the Wilhelmina Canal.

The freely placed counters of the "German" player are the following: five counters of Schiffstain, five counters of Flegerhorst, four counters of engineers, two counters of SS.H., four counters of 1b.SS, 2b.SS, 3b.SS and 4b.SS, seven counters of A.J., seven counters of H.G. and four counters of FLAK.

To hide his counters, the "German" player will leave them off the board, but will have to note down under which letter he has them. The maximum number of counters that can be hidden in a single concealment zone is seven: one in the hex where the letter is and, at most, another six in the hexes adjacent to it.

If he hides fewer than seven counters there must always be one in the hex with the capital letter, but the rest will be placed in the hexes adjacent to the capital-letter hex that the "German" player decides at the moment the hidden counters have to enter play.

The counters that the "German" player hides may remain so until the player himself decides to bring them into play, in any of the turns, when it is his turn to make his movements, or when the concealment zone, whichever it is, is "activated" by the "Allied" player.

Concealment zones are activated when any of the Allied counters is placed at a distance of two hexes in any direction from the capital-letter hex.

When a concealment zone is activated, the "German" player must immediately place on the board the counters that were hidden there, without waiting for his turn, and so entering play at once, and, if applicable, into combat.

In the case of a drop of paratrooper or airborne units, the hidden German counters are activated both if they land on the hidden counters and if they land two hexes away, in any direction, from a concealment zone, according to the rules that will be seen in the chapter on "paratroopers".

The existence of hidden German counters in the game is explained by the fact that, when the Allies launched their operation, they did not know of the existence in the zone of certain German units, or the exact placement of others, which took part in the combats, giving the attackers more than one surprise.

Once the "German" player has placed his freely placed counters, the "Allied" player will proceed to do so, if he wishes and in the quantity he wishes, with his own freely placed counters, which are the paratroopers and the airborne units, according to the rules explained below in chapter 7.

7. The Drop of the Allied Paratroopers and Airborne Units

Although both contenders have paratrooper units, only those of the Allies can be dropped, since those of the German army operated to all effects as normal infantry units.

For game purposes, the Allied airborne units are governed by the same rules as the paratroopers.

In any of the turns of the game, and before making the movements of the counters of the XXX Army Corps, the Allied player will decide whether or not he wants to drop paratroopers and airborne units, and if so, how many of them he is going to drop, telling the opposing player the number of counters he is going to drop, a number that cannot be altered once it has been announced.

For the drop he will place, in any hex of the board, whether occupied or not, the counters he is going to drop. We will call that hex the "drop point".

The drop may be made counter by counter or in groups of up to seven counters. In the latter case the drop point will be common to all of them, placing in the drop-point hex a group paratrooper drop counter representing the set of counters he is going to drop from that hex.

Once this operation is done, the player will proceed to roll the die for the drop of the counters, according to the following rules.

A. Dropping individual counters

The player will roll the die once for each drop point. If this roll is a "two" or a "three", the drop is considered to have been correct, landing on its drop point and therefore remaining in the hex where it was placed.

If, on the contrary, a "four" or a "five" is obtained, the drop is considered to have been wrong, and the die must be rolled a second time.

The score obtained on this second die roll will determine the "landing point" of the dropped counter.

Taking as north the top side of the board, where Arnhem and Utrecht are found:

• if a "two" comes up, the counter will be placed two hexes in a straight line to the left of the drop point.
• if a "three" comes up, the counter will be placed three hexes in a straight line, starting to count from the hex immediately above and to the left of the drop point.
• with a "four" the counter will be placed four hexes, in a straight line, starting to count from the hex immediately above and to the right of the drop point.
• the "five" will indicate that the dropped counter must be placed five hexes in a straight line to the right of the drop point.

(SEE DIAGRAM ON THE BOARD)

B. Dropping counters in a group

Once the groups of counters that are going to be dropped from the same drop point have been determined and replaced on the board by a group paratrooper drop counter, the following operations will be carried out once for each of these counters.

First the die will be rolled once to determine whether or not the counters land grouped: if a "two", "three" or "four" comes up, the counters will land grouped; if a "five" comes up, they do not. In this case [a "five": the counters do not land grouped], the "Allied" player will proceed to replace the group drop counter with the counters that were to be dropped together on it, having to place one compulsorily on the drop point and the others around it, in the adjacent hexes. If there are not seven, but fewer, counters that were to be dropped together, it will be the "Allied" player himself who decides which of the hexes adjacent to the drop point he occupies with the counters and which remain free. Once this is done, he will drop each of the counters individually, as explained above for the drop of counters individually.

If on this first die roll the result was that the counters land grouped, he will make a second roll of the die to determine whether the drop has been correct or not: if a "two" or a "three" comes up the drop has been correct, the counters landing on their drop point, one in the hex that the group drop counter occupied and the others being distributed by the "Allied" player in the hexes adjacent to it. If, on the contrary, a "four" or a "five" comes up, the drop has been wrong, and the die must be rolled again to determine the landing point, the rules indicated above then being applied, and the landing point being determined taking as reference the hex occupied by the group drop counter. Once the landing point has been determined, one of the dropped counters will be placed on it and the others around it, in the hexes adjacent to the landing point.

A dropped paratrooper or airborne counter is considered to have been destroyed or to have become disorganized in the drop itself, being eliminated from the game, when:

• It lands on a river or canal.
• It lands on a wood.
• It lands on a bridge.
• It lands on an enemy counter.
• It lands on one of its own counters.
• It lands on a German anti-aircraft counter or within a maximum radius of up to two hexes in any direction from the hex occupied by the anti-aircraft counter.
• Its landing point is off the board.
• It lands on a city.

When two dropped counters land on the same hex, the one that landed second is eliminated.

Counters that have been dropped cannot move in the same turn in which their drop was made, which represents the time that a unit of this type loses in reorganizing.

If as a consequence of the drop, one of the counters lands on a hex next to another occupied by some German counter, it is not destroyed, but it will have to enter combat with it with only half of its "combat factor". When the "combat factor" of the counter in question is odd, the reduction will be rounded down: so for example, if its "combat factor" is a 3, it will enter combat with factor 1. If it landed on a hex next to several occupied by German counters, the "Allied" player will choose which of them it attacks.

This reflects the fact that when a paratrooper unit lands very close to the enemy, its capacity to fight is reduced until it manages to reorganize its troops.

It may happen that when the counters are dropped, one lands on a concealment zone, where enemy counters are hidden, or that it lands within a radius of two hexes in any direction from a hex with a capital letter. In either case, the dropped counter will activate the concealment zone, forcing the hidden German counters to enter play immediately. But it will be the "German" player who places his counters, which were hidden, in the activated concealment zones, having to place one compulsorily in the hex that contains the capital letter, and distributing the others in the hexes adjacent to it, in the way he wishes.

So, the dropped counter that activates a concealment zone, if it lands on a hex that turns out to be occupied when the "German" player's previously hidden counters are placed, will be eliminated, while if it lands on a hex adjacent to one occupied by a German counter that was hidden, it will have to enter combat with it, with half of its "combat factor", as indicated above.

8. Movement of the Counters

• In each turn, each counter can only move once, the drop of paratrooper or airborne counters being considered as the movement corresponding to the turn in which they are dropped.
• The movement of a counter is given by its "movement factor" or "displacement factor".
• The "movement factor" is the distance, in hexes, that each counter is able to cover, as a maximum, in any direction, in each turn, in order to engage in combat, although it may make a smaller move or simply not move. The "movement factor" is therefore the one that counters must necessarily use when they are going to engage in combat.
• When a counter is not going to enter combat, it may use for its movement its "displacement factor", which is double its "movement factor".
• All the rules that apply to a counter when it uses its "movement factor" apply equally when it uses its "displacement factor".
• In each turn, only one of a counter's "movement factor" or "displacement factor" can be used, the use of one being incompatible with the use of the other.
• "Split movement" is the act of moving part of the "movement factor", attacking an enemy counter and moving the rest of the "movement factor". This "split movement" is strictly forbidden.
• It is compulsory to carry out first all the movements of one's own counters, and then resolve all the combats that have been engaged. Once this is done the next player plays. The only exception to this rule is the artillery bombardments, which must be carried out before making the movements, as will be seen further on.
• A counter cannot pass over another, unless it is a bridge or engineers counter placed on a river hex. If a counter is going in a certain direction and on its way meets another counter, its own or the enemy's, it will have to go around it, but never pass over it, even if this means a delay on its way.

9. Combat

All counters fight against their enemies using their "combat factor".

One or several counters may engage in combat with one or several enemy counters, provided that these are in their zone of control.

Always, before rolling the die, it must be stated which counters are attacking which.

Combats are resolved with the die ("luck factor"). On engaging in combat, the attacking player rolls the die, multiplying the result obtained by the "combat factor" of the counter, thus obtaining a value. The defender does the same, obtaining a second value for his counter. Whichever of the two values is higher gives victory to the counter that obtained it, the other being eliminated from the game. In the event of a tie the combat is not repeated, both counters remaining in the game.

When several counters attack one enemy counter their "combat factors" are added together, the sum being multiplied by the value obtained with the die.

Several counters may attack several enemy counters, provided that all of them, attackers and attacked, are adjacent to one another. These possibilities are reduced to two against two.

In a player's turn, each of his counters can only move once and fight once. If after having fought in its turn, a counter is attacked in the opposing player's turn, it naturally defends itself by rolling the die.

Any counter that is in a city or in a wood, when it defends, increases its "combat factor" by two points.

10. Engineers and Crossing Rivers

At the start of the game the bridge counters will be placed on the river or canal hexes where a destroyed bridge appears.

These bridges allow all types of counters to pass across them, but they can be destroyed.

Bridges can be destroyed by placing in an adjacent hex any tank, field artillery, self-propelled artillery or engineers counter. The bridge counter is then removed from the river, leaving the drawing of the blown bridge on the board and preventing passage across it.

Blowing a bridge constitutes, to all game effects, an activity similar to that of fighting, and since a counter, as indicated before, can only engage in combat once per turn, this means that in order to position itself next to a bridge in order to blow it, one of the counters mentioned above cannot use its "displacement factor" but only its "movement factor". It also implies that each counter can only destroy one bridge in each turn, and that if it carries out this activity it cannot then be used to attack an enemy counter.

The five 4-4 factor counters of the British 43 Division are considered "Commandos".

The commando counters are the only ones that can cross rivers and canals without there needing to be bridge or engineers counters for this. However, these counters cannot move or displace continuously over river or canal hexes; the most they can do in this respect is to cross a single hex of this type. This river or canal hex will count as two for the purposes of their "movement factor" or "displacement factor". If, while they are on a river or canal hex, the commando counters attack or are attacked, they can only fight with half of their "combat factor".

Once the bridges have been destroyed, or in any other part of the canals or rivers where there are none, the engineers counters can facilitate the passage of the other counters, in two different ways, depending on whether it is a river or a canal:

• In the case of canals, the engineers counter will have to reach a land hex adjacent to the canal and will place on it a bridge, over which the counters will be able to pass.
• In the case of rivers, the engineers counter will have to reach the river hex where it wants to open the way and stay in it for as long as it wants its counters to be able to cross.

This difference reflects the effort that the engineer units, in charge of providing the means needed to cross rivers and canals by means of bridges, barges, etc., had to make to facilitate passage, depending on whether it was rivers or canals: in the first case, their greater width demanded a greater effort of them, and therefore also a longer stay in the zone.

Like the destruction of bridges, opening the way across canals and rivers constitutes for the engineers counters an activity similar, to all game effects, to that of fighting, which implies that:

• When they are going to carry out any of these activities, they can only use their "movement factor" and under no circumstances their "displacement factor".
• In the case of canals, each of the engineers counters can only leave one bridge in each turn. These bridges can be destroyed in the same way as those that appear at the start of the game.
• Once they have left the bridge they cannot continue moving in that same turn, even if they have not used up their movement allowance, since that would be a "split movement".
• They cannot place bridges in canals, or place themselves in rivers, in hexes that form part of the zone of control of an enemy counter, since that obliges them to enter combat with it, thus acting twice in one turn: once with the combat proper with the enemy counter, and once with the placement, for example, of the counter in a river, which, as has been explained, constitutes, for game purposes, a similar activity.
• Engineers counters can, using their "movement factor", cross canals and rivers without the need to place bridges or to stay in them in the case of rivers, waiting for other counters of theirs to cross. But when used in this way it must be borne in mind that they can only cross one canal or river in each turn and that the canal or river hex they can cross will count as two against their "movement factor".
• Engineers counters cannot move along canal or river hexes: in each turn they can cover at most one of them, and always to cross it, not to travel along it.

11. Artillery Counters

There are four types of artillery in the game: field, self-propelled, anti-tank and anti-aircraft.

Field and self-propelled artillery counters can perform three functions that are mutually exclusive, that is, the use of one of them prevents the use of the others. These three different ways of using these types of artillery are:

• Blowing bridges, as explained in the previous chapter.
• Supporting another of its combat counters.
• Bombarding.

Bombardment: a field or self-propelled artillery counter can bombard an enemy counter, provided that it is at a distance of a maximum of two hexes. If there are several enemy counters at this distance, the player will indicate which of them he is bombarding and will roll the die. If a "two" comes up the target has been hit and the bombarded counter is eliminated, leaving the game. But if any other number comes up the target has not been hit and the bombarded counter remains in the game.

Support: the artillery counter adds one point to the "combat factor" of one or several of its counters that are engaged in combat against one or several enemy counters, provided that it is at a maximum of two hexes distance from the attacked counter or counters. Two or more counters can support the same attacking counter at the same time, so that it will increase its "combat factor" by as many points as there are artillery counters supporting it in its attack. Artillery counters can only support their counters when these are the attackers, never when they are attacked.

This type of artillery counter can only bombard, support or blow bridges once per turn, these uses being mutually exclusive in the same turn, as has already been indicated.

Anti-tank artillery can only be used to support its counters when they attack under the same conditions indicated above, provided that the attacked enemy counter is tanks and is at a maximum of two hexes distance from it. In this case it will increase by one point the "combat factor" of its attacking counter or counters.

The mission of anti-aircraft artillery counters is to prevent the drop of paratrooper or airborne counters at a distance of a maximum of two hexes, in any direction, from the hex in which it is found. Any of the paratrooper or airborne counters that lands in this radius of action when dropped will be eliminated.

No artillery counter may be used to attack enemy counters directly, using it as if it were infantry. The "combat factor" of artillery counters only serves for the case in which it is attacked by enemy counters, then functioning as a normal infantry counter.

12. Sequence of Play

The sequence of play in each turn is the following:

ALLIED PLAYER:

• Drop of the paratrooper and airborne counters, if applicable.
• Artillery bombardments.
• Movement of the rest of the counters.
• Resolution of the combats brought about by the movement of the counters or the drops.

GERMAN PLAYER:

• Movement of the counters.
• Artillery bombardments.
• Resolution of the combats brought about by the movement of the counters.