Playing catch-up with blog posts, as per usual. This game was the second in our series of D-Day Beach games we are playing this summer, and is a re-vamp of a similar scenario we played back in 2019. This was our May 2024 game. It took place in the Pendraken gaming room.
This game had a representative German beach defence, with causeways #2 and #3 inland from the beach. It also had the inland Para drops and fighting. Again, a condensed map, with less historically accurate beach defences in order to fit both causeways on one table.
As usual, DaveD provided the scenery. I set up the table and myself and DaveD umpired for the players.
This game is both similar and different to the Gold Beach one. In both areas, flooding behind the beach confined the exits. However, the area inland of Utah did see para drops specifically to capture the ends of the causeways, which gives more action inland. Also, the lack of engineering equipment makes a big difference as to how the US forces deal with beach defences.
US forces begin the beach landings. For the purpose of the game, we did the Para drop at the start of turn 1.
Lack of engineering vehicles makes this initial phase costly for the US infantry. With no choice but to attempt to breach the minefields and wire on their own, while under fire from the largely unpinned Germans. The preparatory bombardment had led to all German defences starting pinned, but a good number of them unpinned quickly.
The Para landings were a mixed bag. One stick scattered badly into the flooded areas, and other than command and bazooka teams most of this platoon was drowned. Another stick scattered over the town, landing some squads in the middle of the church square. They did not last long. The third drop was pretty tight and landed safely on the drop zone. Combat for the town and some of the gun batteries started very quickly.
Down on the beach, some engineers and engineering tanks had arrived, allowing breach of the sea wall. Meanwhile, the DD tanks and infantry were engaged in clearing the defences.
Elements of Easy Coy, 506th PIR taking on the battery at Brecourt Manor.
The beach defences are more or less overcome...
Fighting intensifies in St Marie Du Mont, with Paras infiltrating the town and street fighting erupting.
With breaches made and expanded, armour also starts moving off the beach.
Airborne reinforcements arrive via glider - just in time to help deal with some German counter-attacks.
US troops and armour reach the causeways.
Reinforcements keep landing as the fighting continues.
Recently landing AT guns deal with the repurposed French tanks being used by the Germans.
German counter attacking StuGs come under bazooka fire from the town.
Great game, fun to set out and use the table again, with some of Dave's models getting to see the table for the first time.
A lack of posting recently as I've been busy trying to get a number of units finished for a large club game. This has meant that while I am painting, I've not had much to show off. Most of what I have been working on is nearing completion (it was good enough to see the table on Sunday, but still needs work).
However, I did want to share the images from our game!
Myself, Dave, Martin and Ian had come up with the idea of doing a D-Day game as close to the 75th anniversary as we could. We booked the hall in Billingham a few months in advance, primed our Dave and retreated to a safe distance! Martin and myself contributed some scenery, but the bulk of the beach work and all of the American's were done by Dave. Unfortunately, Ian couldn't make it on the day.
As usual, we used 4th Edition of Flames of War, with a few of our own tweaks for random events. On occasion, lip service is also paid to unit coherency, especially for dug in German defenders!
Here's a quick walk round of the table:
And some game start pics:
Uncle Red Sector, Utah Beach - the defences roughly represent WN5 along with WN4 and WN7 defending the causeway ends - we tried to keep this reasonably accurate, but scale and gameplay considerations meant there were some changes.
The obstacles were impassable to vehicles, as was the sea wall. Dozers could clear the obstacles, while engineers were required to blow the sea wall.
Causeways 2 and 3 with flooded fields.
The village of St. Marie Du Mont
The battery at Brecourt manor can be seen at the top of the picture.
The game began with a night para drop complete with randomly scattered para's, of which more can be found over on Martin's blog.
At the beach end, I was taking the players through a naval bombardment (where we tested to hit every bunker and team in the defences) followed by an air bombardment of three waves of three Marauder Bombers - We used some random scatter tables for the accuracy of the bombing, but historically on Utah it appears the bombers actually hit the correct areas.
The strings of blast markers show where the strings of bombs fell - we used the long (16" by 6"?) bombardment template, laid behind each bomber.
Amusingly, the AA guns got plastered, with several of the bombers scattering over them!
The landings then began, with Dave having pre-planned the landing table. This meant that the chaps commanding the landing forces (Stig, Angus and John) were at the end of a conveyor belt of units arriving, with limited space. Landings involved random tables for distance of drift down the coast, and if this took a landing craft off the table, it had to circle and try again next turn. This resulted in some units being delayed. We also had a similar table for DD's, with a roll of a 1 being the DD has sunk.
The first wave hits the beach, with all the DD's making it in on turn one. Most of the DD's made it ashore on Utah, so ours only had a 1 in 8 chance of sinking. Each turn in the surf they had to roll a d8, and on a 1 were swamped. Moving up the beach needed a dash move and a bogging check.
One issue with the layout of the defences was that on the first turn, the shore line was out of range. We just decided the Germans were recovering from the bombardment. Blast markers here show knocked out positions and the effects of the bombing run. Something to consider for next game - might have to shorten the distance but make the infantry move slower.
The first wave makes it to the sea wall - black skull markers used to show where casualties were taken. The next wave arrives, along with dozers to help clear obstacles. The Engineers circled for 3 turns before they landed.
The beach assault progressed pretty rapidly, with the US assault platoons getting to grips with the defenders supported by fire from the Shermans. Turn by turn the fire from the defenders slackened, until the last positions were taken out by flamethrower and grenade.
Eventually the engineers arrived, the sea wall was blown and the tanks started moving to save the paras...
It then became a race to cross the causeways and take out the last defenders, with the Assault platoons leading the way.
The conveyor belt of landing craft putting more and more equipment on the beach - we were planning to recycle infantry units, but no whole US infantry unit was destroyed, so it was mainly armour and support vehicles arriving.
Bogging checks and terrain dash only to move on the beach, which slowed movement down for vehicles.
Beach ends of the Causeways secure, the armour rolls over the captured defences.
Some casualties are sustained by the US infantry, but nothing that will slow them down seriously (skull tokens in front of HMG bunker)
The armour advances, slowly crossing damaged sections of the causeway. The first para units are in the buildings just ahead.
The final aerial view:
I did take pictures of the rest of the game, which I will post below. Unfortunately one of the down sides of running a game on a 16' table is that you lose all sense of what is going on at the other end! As such, I would refer you to Dave's blog or Martin's for more details on the Para operations! StiG's blog also has some nice photos.
Other pics:
A view up the table from the end of the causeways.
Causeway defenders (Causeway #2, I think)
'88' Flak Battery, which had to be destroyed by the Para's to prevent fire on the later arriving gliders.
Para LZ - lots of pinned units from the drop!
US Glider LZ - red tokens mark pinned units.
Para assault on Brecourt Manor
US Para LZ - Martin's i think!
Lots of air support in the game, which did very little. Looks great though - not sure how historical!
Causeway defenders (Causeway #3, I think)
Martin's Easy Company slowly clear the guns. I think the 'Winters' command stand won team of the game, having been involved in some heavy fighting, solo, and winning!
Glider (left) and Para (right) LZ's
We had random German reserves, which resulted in one turn having German 'French' Panzers and Marder III's turning up! Much to the Para commanders dismay!
I think David took terrible casualties trying to capture the town and the '88' battery. In the latter stages of the game German FJ reinforcements held the town.
American infantry from the 4th Division, 8th RCT sweep through the German beach defences!
Armour from the 70th Tank Battalion follow up, along with engineer support in the form of some Dozers form the 299th Engineer Battalion.
German troops try to flee the beach area. They didn't get far.
At the end of the causeway, German forces were subjected to several air attacks, which took a long time to whittle them down.
My scratch built LCT being used in anger.
View from the bridge! The German defences were actually on a rise built by Dave, to represent the dunes.
Desperate fighting to control the end of Causeway #3 - there were Para's in some of these buildings, and Germans in another!
The first Shermans reach the Para's - the linkup is complete!
I'm glad to say a good time was reported by all! This is the first outing of this scenario, with some more work to be done getting things right and Dave wants to revisit some of the terrain I think - and paint more beach assault troops!
All in all, I had a great weekend. My mates David and Paul visited from Scotland, and we had a day out on Saturday at the Heugh Battery in Hartlepool where we were shown around by one of the museum directors. This included quite a bit of time in the armoury where we got to handle weapons including a Sten, Bren, Lee Enfield, MG34 and Kar98. We then got shown how mobile a 25 Pounder is and how it operated, the way different Bofors designs worked and a tour of different bits of the museum proper. All more or less by accident! Well worth a visit if you are in the area.
We then went and had a meal in Stockton on Saturday along with Martin, Dave, Stig, Scotty and the three of us - having some beer and talking gaming! Before convening on Sunday morning for the game. A really nice - if hectic - weekend!
Cheers to Dave for being the powerhouse of painting that he is, and getting so much of this done. A real bucket list game ticked off - only 4 more beaches to do ;)
Thanks also to the guys from the club for coming along and being such good sports!
