breakout from normandy A gaming week

Started by etchelli, 04 June 2015, 09:04:29 AM

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etchelli

Refight of the breakout from Normandy.

A group of us are intending to refight the breakout from Normandy at the Hyde Wargames club during the week of 3rd to 7th of August 2015. The location of the club can be found at http://www.emhg.co.uk/location/  The intention is that the HQ of both sides will make strategic moves using a board game system and these will be converted into table top games played with miniatures.
The games will be played using 10mm troops to the blitzkrieg commander rules with some local amendments.
At the moment we have about a dozen participants but can accommodate up to about 20.
The only cost is £5 per day to cover the cost of the room hire. Troops and terrain will be provided. Participants can come for the full week or individual days.
Further information can be found at  http://www.emhg.co.uk/event/breakout-from-normandy/?instance_id=4428

If you are interested or want further details please contact Ian Etchells at ianetchells78@gmail.com

Subedai

Waaaay to far for me but looks like an interesting project. Don't forget the write up and piccies afterwards or even during.
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paulr

Quote from: Subedai on 04 June 2015, 09:50:35 AM
Waaaay to far for me but looks like an interesting project. Don't forget the write up and piccies afterwards or even during.

Seconded, probably waaaaay waaaay to far for me  ;)
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Techno

And also, a very warm welcome to the forum !  :-h
Cheers - Phil

Steve J

Welcome on board and sounds like great fun. Too far for me sadly, but hope it all goes well and post some pics etc of the weekend.

Womble67

Hello there and a very warm welcome to the forum, unfortunately I will not be able to attend.  But would be very interested in how it turned out.

Take care

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etchelli

The breakout from Normandy week 3rd – 7th August 2015

CONCEPT
A group of us decided that we would play a number of Wargames over a week to refight a historical campaign. We chose the breakout from Normandy post D day as an interesting project and decided on the first week in August as the date.

BOARDGAME AND STRATEGIC MOVEMENT
To simplify the control of units and bookkeeping we used an old attactix Battle for Normandy Game. The game had a conventional hex based movement system and the usual combat results table to determine battles. The allies started with a number of   counters (formations) on the table with the Germans with a number of defending pieces in place. As the game progressed the allies landed more troops via the beaches while the Germans reinforced from the board edges. A simple weather system speeded up German reinforcements due to the lack of allied airpower while potentially delaying allied landings. The weather also potentially limited allied air cover for actual battles.
We played the strategic movement of the board game as per the rules with one exception. Players were only allowed to see there own counters and enemy counters next to them. The enemy counter was represented as a blank counter giving no indication of strength or type. The moves were recorded as a path to the ultimate destination on the board. When these paths collided with an enemy counter this generated an on table wargame.

PLAYING THE GAMES ON TABLE
We had decided to use the Blitzkrieg Commander rules to play the games on table. An Orbat was created for each counter. We used the board games strength with 1 point equalling about 1000 pts under the BC commander rules. This gave us 40 allied counters totalling 101,000 points and, 36 German counters totalling 83,000 points.
In addition to the on table formations the allies were allowed additional off table naval artillery for battles taking place within 3 hexes of the coast and to have air support for any three battles per turn weather permitting. The Germans were allowed air support for 1 battle per turn.

WHAT ACTUALY HAPPENED DURING THE WEEK
A dozen players played at some stage during the week but some could only attend for certain days due to other commitments. We actually fought 22 Wargames during the week. Casualties were recorded on each formation after the battle and   die rolls were made to see if replacements could be made for losses during the games.
The first thing that challenged the players was that they were unaware at the start of each game what they were facing. A lot of the tables had dense terrain representing the bocage
Terrain in Normandy so hidden deployment was used utilising maps. The players were unaware if they were facing 1,000 points worth of infantry or 6,000 points worth of armour with support. In these situations the overall C&C brief is essential but as we found out often not adequate or adhered to.
One player after fighting a battle where he had been outnumbered when faced with a second battle withdrew from the table without firing a shot or even seeing the enemy. This player later found out that the force he was facing was inferior to his own. There were numerous situations of cautious players not committing troops when in a winning position and rash players   taking large casualties when attacking a superior position.
The German C&C tended to be more adventurous with his formations and devised an attack on part of Caen where his troops arrived from the flank and the rear of the allied forces. When this materialised on the table the allied players face was one of shock when he was attacked from every direction except the one where he thought the enemy was.
The games themselves were varied with a three player game involving about 15,000 points against 10,000 to attack  Caen to 1000 points a side infantry skirmishes in the bocage. Players static and uncommitted during a period were allowed to prepare fortifications and therefore we had larger forces trying to take out smaller forces behind minefields.
Over the games players that could coordinate off table artillery and air support with the forces on land tended to do better. Pushing unsupported armour forward tended to be costly as they were destroyed by concealed infantry.
The German players tended to come out on top casualty wise. The overall comparison over the games was as follows

               German      Allied
Recon vehicles         14         41
Infantry            105         127
Infantry support          21         23
Anti tank guns            16         58
Tanks and SP guns         39         215

It is interesting to note that the 1:5 casualty ratios in tank combat in Normandy is similar to the results of the Wargames which is 1:5.5

STRATEGIC RESULTS
The Germans has as in history used the bulk of there armour around Caen and tried to infiltrate past the allied players to take the beaches. At one stage the German player held 2 beaches. The allied concentrated around Caen and tried to push past it while using second wave troops to regain the beaches. The allies used the US forces very little and apart from a couple of   pushes they more or less held the same positions at the end of the week as at the beginning. At the conclusion the allies had regained the landing grounds but had not made much headway going forward. In addition to this they had a casualty ratio of almost 2:1 and therefore you would say it was a German victory.        

bigjackmac

That is a really cool idea, and sounds like a lot of fun.

But, we must have pictures, Sir! ;)

V/R,
Jack

toxicpixie

Not sure that's a German victory - had they regained the beaches and were the Allies still in supply? If so, they've won. The Germans aren't going to budge them, and they'll mass up, draw down the defenders and then break out! Sounds like it went as real life, overall :)

Really good stuff, sounds like it went very much as real life with all sorts of awful command decisions and "WTF?! He did WHAT?! If only he'd just done X!" moments :D

Also, piccies please :D
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paulr

Sounds like a great week :)

Pictures please
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