Wednesday 7 December 2022

Somewhere in Normandy 1944 : Part II

As hinted at by the title of my previous post we played a second Normandy Battle. Basically with the previous game finishing quite late and an early start on the Saturday I didn’t have much time to create a completely new battlefield.

But this wasn’t a continuation, but a completely new battle. Those eagle-eyed we spot I did change a couple of things adding an extra road and growing the village slightly. The forces would be a bit larger as we had more time. We would again be using Bolt Action with the 28mm ranges to give a fluid battle. For this battle the Germans advance from the South (this end) the Americans from the North. The objective for both sides would be to capture the two river crossings, the river no longer in spate would allow infantry to cross if needed. We gave ourselves 10 turns to complete the battle.
The Germans want to use the advantage of their hill and look to deploy their Pak40 overlooking both bridges.
German armour and infantry heading for the White House 
And then advancing down the road
The Americans deploy slightly more cautiously 
German tanks surge towards the right bridge but one gets a track knocked off and is immobilised (it can continue firing though)
German commander oversees the battlefield from the White House whilst the Stug now engages the enemy across the river at long range
American infantry line the river, whilst the leading Sherman advances over the bridge
The two Sherman’s close to the right bridge are also now immobilised
The Sherman in the village crosses over past another burning Panzer
Quick thinking by the tank commander and he pivots into the woods catching the next Sherman in the open and it too is brewed up.
The woods see really fierce hand to hand fighting several units end their battle in the woods.
The Sherman (armed with Howitzer) manages to knock out the Pak40 and then advances over the bridge
Another burning Panzer and you can see just to the right the lead Sherman has driven right into the German lines, distracting the Germans who eventually knock it out with theStug 
Very close now to the end of the battle, the several German units have thrown themselves at the bridge, eventually a unit gets across past the burning Sherman.
In the final turn the Germans manage to get across the bridge, and knock out the American AT Gun, the two remaining tanks in this sector trade shots across the river.
At the other bridge the Germans are also pushing forward, they have eliminated any Americans near the bridge and the Stug has been brought up to lead the advance.

Seem to say this quite often but another fine battle. Very close and hard fought especially around the central wood. The higher quality of the German infantry won through in the end with random dice rolling not really playing a big part in the outcome. As a couple of people mentioned on the previous post the 15mm is very effective and we are enjoying the simplicity of Bolt action and the larger ranges and mobility. This was such a fine battle that we mistakenly started thinking about more WW2 15mm projects, over a post battle cup of tea. Always dangerous to make decisions in the warm glow post-battle but a plan has already been hatched and implemented 😂 for the new year. More of this in future blogs of course. Who doesn’t need another WWII project !!!!!

Back to the painting desk and hopefully more to share by the end of the week.

Matt



20 comments:

  1. Great game and another superb layout. You do have a knack of displaying some great terrain to fight overome

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    1. Thanks Neil, it was an excellent Battle which is perhaps the most important. But I guess I do have an idea what I want my battles to look like and I have worked towards this. Flexibility the most important thing

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  2. Another fine-looking battle Matt. I have a ton of 15mm WWII stuff which I'd really like to get started on, but am still finding spare time to be the most scarce resource.

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    1. Thanks Lawrence, I have found you can rattle through 15mm as it doesn’t need the care of larger scales. But yes when time is precious it can still be a challenge. Of course it helps having finished work 🙂

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  3. great, not played WW2 for ages. Feeling inspired

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    1. Really enjoying it at the moment ….and oh dear a new project for the new year 👍

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  4. A dynamic duo of games with the added bonus of sowing the the seeds for further WWII wanderings.

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    1. Thanks Phil I do enjoy WWII gaming and yes a new project 😢

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  5. Good to see that this gave you both such a quality gaming experience. Great to hear that a new project is about to unfold. I might be getting confused. but I’m seeming to recall you getting some WWII Japanese, so my money is on a Pacific expansion for your 2023!

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    1. Thanks Norm a very simple battle which worked out well. As for the new project it isn’t the Pacific, that wasn’t me. Although Steve does have some Japanese and I do have a few Americans somewhere in case I felt the urge.

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  6. Another good looking game there Matt...why not reuse the terrain when it looks so pretty! How did you call this one at the end...it seemed like a German victory to me, albeit a rather expensive one!

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    1. Thanks Keith another close battle but we gave it to the Germans as they had All but captured the bridges and the Americans were pretty much unable to prevent them adavancing👍

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  7. A splendid visual feast of a game! Looking forward to the new project in the new year!

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    1. Thanks David ….we all love a new project 👍

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  8. Splendid game. Another project? Oh good something to look forward to seeing. Glad the B.A. rules give you a good game. Buy some Hellcats, or even M36 tank destroyers , even out the long range dueling.

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    1. Thanks Joe, the Americans do have some tank destroyers but they weren’t on the battlefield this week 😢

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  9. Outstanding wargaming display! Your photos make one almost feel like "you are there."

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  10. Immersive and gorgeous pictures, what a splendid game!!

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    1. Merci Phil…but sadly no time for a video 🙂

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