Dieppe (board game)

On 19 August 1942, a predominantly Canadian amphibious force landed at the German-occupied port of Dieppe as a test of Allied invasion equipment and the ability to take and hold a defended port. With incorrect intelligence, faulty timing and lack of surprise, the raid was a total fiasco in which most of the men never got off the beach, and over half were wounded, killed or taken prisoner.[1]

Dieppe is a two-player wargame in which one player controls the Allied landing forces, and the other player controls the German defenders.

In the mid-1970s, Simulations Canada was founded by Stephen Newberg with the idea that they would be able to develop a Canadian market for wargames by creating wargames with a Canadian historical angle. After publishing two non-Canadian games — Raketny Kreyser and The Peloponnesian War — Simulations Canada published Dieppe in 1977, a game designed by Stephen Newberg with graphics and artwork by Tom Fennel, and packaged in a ziplock bag. In 1981, a second edition was published as a boxed set with cover art by John Kula, a new map and upgraded counters, but no revisions to the rules.[4][5]

Despite positive reviews, the game did not sell well in Canada, despite the hopes of its creator. Newberg later commented, "In the beginning we [at Simulations Canada] wanted to do one game in three on a Canadian topic, with the strange notion of building a domestic market. This was before I found out that Canadians do not buy Canadian products due to some inferiority complex problems."[4] Disappointed by the lack of Canadian sales, Simulations Canada did not publish any other Canadian-themed games with the exception of Quebec Libre (1978) and Ortona (1983).

In Issue 12 of Fire & Movement, Roy Schelper admitted to being prepared for a fairly amateur effort by small Canadian game publisher Simulations Canada, but was pleasantly surprised by the professionalism of the components. He was also impressed by the "tightly written" rules that were "clear and concise" and found the game system to be "elegantly conceived". After playing the game, Schelper noted that "The scenarios are all quite absorbing and tensely balanced, and every one of them offers a chance of victory for either player." Schelper concluded with a strong recommendation, saying, "Dieppe is a fascinating exercise in problem-solving, and covers for the first time, to my knowledge, one of WWII's more obscure topics. {...] WWII buffs will want to add this game to their collections, since it covers a new topic, and all players who like a short, tense game will like Dieppe. [...] Reserve a space on your shelf for Dieppe because it is an outstanding value."[3]

In Issue 65 of Fire & Movement, Jeff Petrasks called the game "fairly complex, but the system is well conceived and well presented. Petraska concluded, Dieppe succeeds both as a game and as historical simulation, making it an excellent product."[6]

In Issue 35 of Phoenix, John Poole did not like the components, finding the map ugly, and the counters hard to read. But he liked the game sequence, finding that it gave "a clear shape and purpose to the game that accords well with historical reality." Poole had some problems with rules ambiguities, and wished that the game had been designed to give a longer, more complex and more in-depth examination of this battle. He concluded, "In spite of a number of reservations that I have dealt with, I recommend this game. [...] There would surely be scope enough here for a more elaborate, tactical treatment of Jubilee that would, at the same time, preserve the playability and compactness of the original design?"[2]

In Issue 10 of Simulacrum, Luc Olivier commented that, like the actual battle, the game could have suffered from "the unclearness of the real purpose of the operation." But Olivier noted "the designers had the good idea to offer a lot of what-if possibilities among the different battleplans studied before the landing." He concluded, "All in all, a very fine game."[4]