The 8th June saw six plucky
commanders and one confused looking GM hosting a D-Day commemoration Bolt
Action scenario. I had proposed a scenario from the Battleground Europe that
sounded interesting - Scenario 4, Gold Beach.
The premise was fairly hard going
for the British, the board is split into twelve-inch sections representing deep
water, shallow water, beach and then dry land. the British gain VPs by moving
off the board or finishing in the German deployment zone, and both sides earn
points by destroying units. My biggest concern was that the Germans would get a
couple of turns to destroy as many landing crafts as possible as the British
had to start off table and all be mounted on flimsy landing crafts.
One thing that did seem to go well was using two separate dice bags for axis and allies and a third bag that contained coloured cubes. Each side had a number of cubes equal to their remaining dice divided by three. I then pulled cubes out of the mixed back and handed a random three order dice bag of the matching side. Seemed to make sure everyone had a go and one side wasn't left waiting too long.
Germans
Commander Roy - Leutnant Hans Hoch, 1944 Atlantic Wall Resistance Nest
Platoon
Commander James - Leutnant Fritz Lawnmover, 1944 Atlantic Wall
Resistance Nest Platoon
Commander Ed - Leutnant Hanz Gruber, 1944 Atlantic Wall Resistance Nest
Platoon
British
Commander Roger - Major Donal, Lieutenant Tate, British Commando Platoon
Commander Neil - Lieutenant Linn, 1944 - Normandy Platoon
Commander Chris - Lieutenant Chesterfield, British Beach Assault platoon
Deployment and Preparatory Barrage
The Germans choose to keep the
majority of their infantry squads off table along with vehicles, once the smoke
had cleared from the initial bombardment, they had a smattering of pins and one
casualty. The bunkers had paid for themselves, and the British had been quite unlucky,
this is despite them being able to roll two dice for preparatory bombardments
Turn One
A couple of surprises in the first turn, both the
88s missed the landing crafts and the Germans planned their first Artillery
strikes to hit the water between as many landing crafts as possible. Both sides
were to get a Artillery observer for free, this observer could also call strike
after strike for as long as he lived.
Turn Two
Both Artillery strikes are
delayed and moved closer towards the beach. on the Germans right flank, the
first 88 strikes out and obliterates the landing craft carrying a DD Sherman.
Thankfully the Sherman has brought some water wings and is propelled out the
front of the landing craft to bob happily in the shallow water
The British in the middle strike out for the beach
and issues another run order. First prize for hitting France goes to Commander
Neil.
The rest of the landing craft
approach more cautiously or are stalled by failing order tests due to the
incoming fire and the accompanying fire. I had initially assumed that
crafts would only receive pins on 50/50 roll, but it quickly pointed out that
open top vehicles receive pins no matter what is fired at them.
We are also all scoffing lunch at this point, kindly provided by Clare Gaming
Turn Three
We start seeing some progress in
the middle section for the British, Commander Neil managed to get a squad off
the landing craft into shallow water.
Commander Chris loses an entire
landing craft and practically all its occupants to another 88 round. The sole
remainder is one man of the light mortar team, who makes it to the beach and
hits face down.
The Germans continue to pour on a horrendous amount of fire. They are
joined by most of their reinforcements at this point, including a particularly
scary quad anti-aircraft gun.
With
the armour held up on a landing craft in the middle and the pins stacking up,
it doesn't look like the Flail Sherman is getting out this turn
The first of the Armour hits the beach, and it’s a formidable
one, with an ARVE the Germans will really have to worry about bunkers being
busted. Although it’s got quite a few pins on it at this stage.
Turn Four
Disaster strikes on the British,
accurate artillery bombardments have taken out landing crafts holding the
majority of the commando force, they are all forced to dismount and wade for
shore.
The drone of incoming aircraft
is soon heard, could this be the chance the allies desperately need. Apparently
not, we had hoped a cheeky intervention would help out the British, it wasn't
to be though, the aircraft targeted Commander James’s 88 and feeling quite
protective of it, his AA guns tore the planes out of the sky before any damage
was done.
The British right flank has
joined the fight on the beach and has a couple of relatively untouched squads
disembark. the Tank is to remain stationary for the next couple of turns as it
keeps failing order tests due to its accumulated pins.
Although with a great deal of squads now on the beach, the
toehold can be strengthened
The British in the centre
receive a barrage that leave every soldier on the beach nearby extremely
rattled and all the squads receive many pins
The excellently converted Flail equipped Sherman is finally able to leave the landing craft when it is pinned out, only to have reached its maximum pin count too and be destroyed
At least Commander Neil can smile about his beloved tank being destroyed
A solid defence on the German Right flank is keeping the Commandoes in
the water with continuous fire and accurate artillery strikes
Some progress is made in the Centre with a squad moving towards the german section of the table, the initial squad in the water has not been able to move
On the british right flank, the hope that came with the ARVE is dashed as an extremly accurate panzerfaust takes it out before it can be much of a nuisance. Commander Roger begins the long and arduous task of rallying the troops under heavy fire from a determined enemy
The disembarked flamethower on the British left flank, removes an entire squad for being too curious and coming too close
The British Artillery observer is now on the beach in the British left
flank, cunningly disguised as a Civilian Sketch Artist, good old British ingenuity
from Commander Chris
At this point Commander Neil runs out of pin markers to add and must borrow them from the opposing commander, oh the shame! The light mortar team has become so concerned with the amount of fire they are receiving from the quad AA gun that they fubar and run back into the sea for safety.
Turn Five
Commandoes finally start moving towards the beach
In a surprise move, the British in the centre get frustrated with
shooting and charge into the flak wagon, completely destroying it and end their
move on the German deployment zone
In an equally exciting manoeuvre the Germans attempt to take out the remaining
light mortar crewman and fail miserably
The central 88 is targeted by two artillery strike, will this
be enough to neutralise it?
Commandoes finally make it to the beach
Turn Six
Centre British force are now solidly built up and ready for the attack
Turn Seven
British Artillery is applied
throughout most of the centre German’s force, unfortunately with an extra
devasting hit, the British forces also receive some destruction
The
Civilian Sketch Artist is revealed to be a British Artillery Observer all along
and calls down a strike on the nearby 88, meanwhile the DD Sherman is still languishing
in the shallow water but with a rally order removing pins it may still see
action yet
The British pull off an incredibly plucky order test and charge the closest 88, thinking it may give the British some sorely needed victory points and on consolidation move , potentially get them near the table edge
Sadly
it wasn’t to be, the British failed to score a single hit on the veteran crew
of the 88 and are destroyed very quickly. a similar story is played out beside
them when the sniper team is also assaulted.
The flame thrower team on the British left continues its
rampage and takes out the team in the nearby bunker, unfortunately it then runs
out of fuel
The commandoes have largely been removed under the weight of fire at this point
Turn Eight
Although the game was scheduled
to go on for nine turns, it was largely finished at this point for the British
At the start of the turn the British had a
final change of luck when the artillery strike accurately hits the 88 and takes
its out
British still advancing on the Left flank
Alas a quick count on the dice
accumulated on each side shows that it has been a very convincing win on the
German side.
Overall, it was a very enjoyable
day, there was a small amount of frustration on the Ally side on having
everything so heavily weighted against them but everyone was very sporting and
played well. there were some lovely forces on display and I'm kicking myself for not taking time to photograph each of them before deployment.
A little bit annoyed that I had
had concerns early on about the issues the British might face and didn't seek
to change anything about the scenario, I had assumed it might be ok once
underway as sometimes you never can tell. the biggest issue seemed to be
getting the forces to the beach. there is no other way to transport them other
than flimsy landing crafts and the open top rules punish the occupants
horribly, particularly the tanks.
I had asked the team for recommendations
for possible improvements if we were to try again or to recommend to other
players. many thanks to the player, particularly Ed for these
1. Allow the Brits 500pts of
reinforcement starting at the shallow water mark on turn 5/6
2. Allow the Brits ongoing
artillery observer to be off board and capable of firing throughout the games
3. Consider not allowing tanks
to be pinned if on board a landing craft hit by small arms fire (the craft and
troops inside still take pins as normal) or allow tanks to fire over the door
of the landing craft with turret weapons
4. Allow troops within 6 inches
of the shore to fire
5. Change the amount of water so
its 1/3 shallow water, 1/3 beach, 1/3 land
6. Allow the Assaulting force to
deploy up to 12" in
Many thanks for reading, if you
have played this scenario also, please comment on how your game went
