It Never Snows

About this board game

It Never Snows is a 2012 Standard Combat Series wargame for 1–6 players, with a listed play time of 1500 minutes, covering Operation Market Garden in September 1944. Its five-map campaign follows the Allied landings and ground offensive at a scale of 600 meters per hex, with turns representing half a day.

The Allied player must drop paratroopers, establish bridgeheads, defend key positions, and push a ground offensive to link up with the airborne forces. The German player faces the task of crushing the troops clinging to Arnhem, defending river crossings, and launching counterattacks to sever Allied supply lines. Both sides attack and defend every turn.

The expansive map area keeps the airborne division battles geographically distinct, allowing each region to become its own tactical puzzle. A player may be succeeding in one area while losing ground in another, and the campaign keeps both players involved across the entire operation. The rules use a tactical model with limited overhead, including set-piece and improvised attacks, indirect fire, and air support.

It Never Snows includes a detailed order of battle representing the varied German forces assembled to resist the offensive, from elite armor and SS formations to displaced sailors, school units, penal troops, and other lightly trained or unusual formations. Scenarios range from the complete campaign to focused battles around Arnhem, Oosterbeek, Nijmegen, and Hell’s Highway.

• Five full-color 22×34-inch game maps
• 840 counters and four full-color play aids
• Campaign games plus shorter scenarios, including six-, eight-, and twelve-turn engagements
• SCS series rules, a game-specific rulebook, box, and dice