Operation Barclay (Spanish)

July 1943. The Allies invade Sicily. To do so, they needed a network of spies, radio traffic, recruited interpreters and a fake army, made up of twelve supposed divisions, to make Hitler believe that the invasion would take place elsewhere. The operation with which Allied military intelligence created disinformation and confused Axis military intelligence began in the spring and was named Barclay. And in between, other key operations that contributed to its success, such as Operation Mincemeat, in which the British introduced false documents through Spain. Thanks to all these tricks, the German high command diverted the Italian fleet towards the Adriatic Sea.

In Operation Barclay you will be one of the directors of military intelligence, Allied or Axis, trying to hide or learn the truth about the plans for the Allied invasion in 1943. A skillful management of the situation will be key to success in the military campaign that is about to begin.

Operation Barclay is played over 6 rounds, called “months.” Each month is made up of 5 phases during which each person takes a series of actions. Players choose to play as either the Allies, represented by the London Control Section (LCS), or the Axis, represented by the German military intelligence organization (Abwehr).

Depending on their side, each person tries to play the best hand they can to win the opportunity to reveal or keep hidden information about the Allied offensive plans of 1943. However, each person will get even more opportunities to reveal or keep hidden this information if they bet correctly on who will have the best hand at the end of the month.

If the person playing the Abwehr gets enough opportunities to reveal information, they will likely figure out where the Allies plan to invade and which offensives are merely diversionary maneuvers, thereby winning the game. If the person carrying the LCS gets enough opportunities to keep the information hidden, military intelligence will be safe and the Allies will launch successful offensives, thus winning the game.