The Pocket at Falaise (EN)

By August 1944, trapped inside a shrinking pocket were some 25 German divisions, all racing for survival, while the Allied armies aimed to turn Hitler's delayed counterattack on Normandy from a mere failure to a war-ending disaster for the Germans. In one sense, neither side succeeded. But the devastation was something unprecedented.

While we may think of the Allies as having overwhelming forces, at the actual point of contact, there were relatively weak units trying to "plug the leak" against overwhelming numbers of intensely motivated Germans. The situation means that the "retreating" Germans are actually forced to do a lot of attacking, while the "advancing" allies found themselves in a desperate defense.

The Pocket at Falaise uses a chit-pull activation system to capture some of the chaotic and uncoordinated efforts. Players are forced to juggle to make the best out of an increasingly difficult situation, and a combat scale that straddles "tactical" and "operational," aiming to capture the best of both without adding a lot of fiddly rules. A complete set of solitaire rules for the game completes the package. This version of The Pocket at Falaise is the game only, and not the full ATO Magazine back issue.