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Operation Mercury
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In the spring of 1941, the German Blitzkrieg crushed the Balkans, rapidly overrunning Yugoslavia and Greece. The battered remnants of the defeated Allied armies evacuated to the island of Crete and prepared to defend it. Faced with the threat of air attacks from the Allied air bases on Crete and pressed for time, men and equipment on the eve of Operation Barbarossa (the invasion of the Soviet Union planned for June), Adolf Hitler decided to launch a lightning air assault to take Crete: Operation Mercury!

On May 21, 1941, German paratroopers, brave tough, battle-hardened and with esprit-de-corps second to none, formed the spearhead of Hitler's daring airborne assault. Hastily assembled, these elite troopers jumped into an unexpected maelstrom of fire and lead that decimated their ranks.

For the next eight days, the depleted airborne forces, bolstered by a reinforcing Mountain Division, were locked in a gripping life-and-death struggle against fierce resistance from the defending British, Greek, Australian and New Zealander troops.

When it was over, though Germany prevailed, over 7,000 German soldiers, including one in four paratroopers, lay dead on the battlefield. Operation mercury was a German victory, but a Pyrrhic one at best. Adolf Hitler was so shocked by the heavy German losses on Crete that he never deployed his elite paratroop units again in a major airborne operation.

Operation Mercury allows you to recreate this bitter struggle for Crete at company/battalion level. The game system, based of the award-winning GMT Operational System which first appeared in Operation Shoestring and Air Bridge to Victory, allows for multiple combat options. The system also takes into account unit morale and efficiency as well as formation strength when resolving combat.

Game Components

COUNTERS
400 full-color two-sided counters, depicting troops from Great Britain, Italy, Greece, Australia and Germany as well as the Luftwaffe and the British Royal Navy.
MAPS
Two 22x34" full-color mapsheets covering most of the island of Crete and focusing on the key drop zones at Maleme, Suda, Retimo and Heraklion.
OTHER
  • One 10-sided die
  • 40-page Rule Book
  • Player Aid Cards: Allied Setup Card, Allied Naval Setup Card, Allied Naval Display, German Setup Card, German Air Operations Display, German & Allied Campaign Options, Campaign Victory Point Schedule, Game Tables Card

Game Features

  • Allows players to recreate the tension and excitement of the struggle between the British Royal Navy and the German Luftwaffe
  • Special rules cover:
    • German Paradrops
    • Allied Armored Forces
    • Air and Naval Combat
    • Allied Night Tactical Superiority
TIME SCALE 8 hours per turn
MAP SCALE 1.5 km per hex
UNIT SCALE Company & Battalion
NUMBER OF PLAYERS One to Four
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