by RockyMountainNavy, 27 November 2024
My personal wargame collection has nearly two dozen solitaire wargames in it; that is, wargames specifically designed to be played by one player and one player only. A major negative issue that many of those games suffer from is boring, repetitive actions. While every wargame has a sequence of play that must be followed, given the opposition in solitaire games is controlled by the game engine executing the enemy actions often gives the game a very uninspiring “over and over again” feeling. Operation Bøllebank: The Relief of Tango-2 by designer Nichola Saggini from SNAFU Design Team in 2024 breaks that boring repetition paradigm by novel usage of order chits that force agonizing decisions on players as they race against time while fighting off an enemy they are not supposed to shoot—all in a game that will never play the same way twice.
Hooligan bashing
Operation Bøllebank is based on events from the night of 29-30 April 1994 when a Danish armored task force, DANSQN2 of the Nordic Battalion (NORBAT 2) was sent to relieve Swedish forces at the Tango-2 observation post near the town of Kalesija, around the border between Bosnia and Serbia. The player controls the United Nations (UN) forces and the game engine manages the opposing Bosnian Serb Army. A complete game is played over as many as 20 turns (often less) representing about an hours time. The beautifully rendered map by Nils Johansson (who the Armchair Dragoons interviewed here) depicts an area about 7×10 kilometers using a point-to-point map. In terms of forces engaged, the Danish bring an armored task force of roughly company strength opposed by elements of an infantry battalion supported by few tanks and artillery.
RoE for me but not for thee
The basic layout and background of Operation Bøllebank makes it sound like the game is a straight-up fight between the UN and the Bosnian Serb Army. Not so fast; unlike many wargames the rules of engagement (RoE) in Operation Bøllebank are a real part of the game design—and a severe limitation to the player. The UN player starts with RoE ‘Hold Fire’ which means shooting at the Bosnian Serb Army is NOT allowed…period. Even if you are fired upon the RoE forbids you to return fire…at first. At some point the UN player will feel compelled to open fire regardless of the RoE (thematically named Til helvede med det! – ‘To hell with it!’). The RoE in Operation Bøllebank might also reach a point where it has been clearly broken by the Bosnian Serb Army giving the UN player total freedom to take those forces under fire.
In what is perhaps the most important decision in a game of Operation Bøllebank, the UN player must decide when to make that Til helvede med det call; too early and there is a heavy penalty in victory points. Too late and a unit may be lost (automatic defeat) or Tango-2 may not be relieved (mission failure).
Yet, the RoE rules (see 5.2 RULES OF ENGAGEMENT) are not the most innovative part of the Operation Bøllebank game design. The real design innovation is found in 5.3 AVAILABLE ORDERS which are the rules for the use of order chits and the Order Matrix.
As part of the setup of Operation Bøllebank, the player places 29 order chits into an Enemy Weapon Pool. To order units to move or fire, the player draws two chits and places them on the Order Matrix (found on Player Aid Sheet 1 – PAS1). The Order Matrix explains how the two drawn chits reveal what order can be given to a platoon or single vehicle – Move, Fire (if the RoE is not ‘Hold Fire’ and the player has declared ‘Til helvede med det’), Emergency Tow, or Air Strike (but only if the RoE is ‘Unrestricted’).
The order chits are then moved to the Enemy Weapons Effectiveness Tracks and become the threat lethality; the more order chits that are drawn as the game goes on increases the effectiveness of enemy fire which ranges from heavy machine guns to anti-tank guided missiles and even tanks and artillery. This creates a real command challenge for the UN player; you want to move your force with the least amount of orders necessary because the more orders you issue the more lethal the threat becomes. The player is also incentivized to fire because doing so can reduce the Weapons Effectiveness…if one is willing to again pay victory point costs.
The art of war
Visualizing the threat in Operation Bøllebank is done, thankfully, by more than simply ‘reading the chits.’ Much credit must be given to the graphical work from Nils Johannson for bringing Operation Bøllebank to life on the tabletop. The stunning map with its dark tones looks like a map in the night. The various areas on the map are rendered in a manner that looks like it was taken straight off a tactical planning graphic. Not only does the map look like a tactical graphic of the battlefield, even the tracks look ‘military like’ with their dials and graph paper background. That same art style carries over into the Player Aid Sheets which use the same dark tones with very modern looking iconography and text; one would almost swear you are looking at a computer screen of information. In particular, the iconography of Operation Bøllebank is easy to understand and greatly assists the player in ‘getting out of the rulebook’ and playing ‘on the table.’
The rulebook for Operation Bøllebank is also well done. At 28 pages one might be tempted to call it a bit heavy but inside one finds not only the rules of play but plenty of other useful information. The actual rules of play, spanning from Chapter 2 COMPONENTS to Chapter 8 HOW TO WIN, cover 16 pages. This includes a full-spread ‘centerfold’ that shows the game in play and adds useful textual call-outs explaining various parts of the board. The rest of the rulebook is generally divided in two parts; an extended Example of Play (with another full-page graphic of the example turn) plus Glossary and Counter Key (5 pages total) and Design Notes with Historical Context and References (4 pages total). Like the map, the targeted use of graphics in the rulebook of Operation Bøllebank make the game easy to learn and quick to get into play.
Solo by design
In Chapter 9 DESIGN NOTES of Operation Bøllebank, designer Nicola Saggini explains their reasoning behind depicting these events in a solitaire game. First, however, Nicola addresses the RoE:
Reading about NORBAT2 interpretation of ROE was interesting, especially in comparison with other, much darker chapters of the same history (such as the role of the UN peacekeeping force in the massacre at Srebrenica). Operation Bøllebank epitomizes this spirit very well. (Rulebook, p. 19)
As you can likely tell from my comments above, the RoE rules in Operation Bøllebank are a real winning attraction for me. Here is perhaps the ultimate military challenge—accomplish your mission when you are limited in your ability to fully defend yourself.
Nicola continues on addressing why the game is solitaire:
The choice toward a solitaire game was mainly driven by the dearth of resources that provide an account from the other side, making it almost impossible to know the true objectives of the Bosnian Serb forces that night and thus offering a credible model in the game that would provide the potential player of that side with an interesting experience. (Rulebook, p. 19)
I applaud Nicola for making the decision to not model the opposition as a second player in Operation Bøllebank. This allows the game to focus on the decisions of the UN player and creates the tension in the game—which Nicola describes as, “the breakdown of command and control during an unexpected, high-intensity engagement.” Nicola goes on to point out the player can still win; that is, if they use, “proper planning, training, discipline, and individual initiative” which are shown in the game through the Order Matrix and Enemy Weapons Effectiveness Tracks. (Rulebook, p. 19)
Many times, solo game designs like Operation Bøllebank and others risk turning disastrous from the start if the player makes poor decisions. The key to overcoming a fragile design, as Nicola points out, is to embrace game mechanisms that, “introduce a significant degree of randomness.” Nicola insists this is not a bad outcome because, “after reading accounts of this episode, I’m convinced that what was witnessed is just one of many possible outcomes and not necessarily the most probable one.” (Rulebook, p. 19)
Ultimately, what makes Operation Bøllebank so attractive to me is the theme, the challenge of the RoE, and the playability—and replayability—of the solo game system all graphically presented in a strikingly thematic yet usable manner. This year has seen many interesting wargames delivered but I feel Operation Bøllebank is a very strong contender for some kind of “Wargame of the Year” listing. From the moment a player sees the contents and understands the rules Operation Bøllebank screams, “Play me!” In particular, the randomness of order chits is not a bug but an important feature of the design that frames the fragile situation the player—like the Danes in 1994—faces in the night. At what point do YOU say, “Til helvede med det!?” Operation Bøllebank lets you find out.
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Thanks RMN! That really flatters me!