If the technology works, or if I am able to work it, here is a shot of a solo game I am doing in an attempt to get my head round the rules and to check that I have all the bits before I offer myself up for ritual humiliation with a live opponent.
You should have no problems with them, but ask away if you get problems
Very impressive looking game 8).
That's a very nice table
Agreed - a very nice looking table and an interesting scenario to be getting to grips with the rules.
Any questions - please post here - nothing to small or 'silly' that we all wont be prepared to help with - ;)
"Gentlemen, we are being killed here on the beaches; let's move inland and be killed there."
Great looking table and very nice figures.
Now that I have cracked how to post a photo I will offer some more with a bit of a running commentary.
Looks ace
:-bd =D> :-bd
While I have everyone's attention, should the Landing Craft be plain grey or some naval camouflage? I think plain grey ideally with a serial number but stand ready to be corrected.
Looks brill !! :-bd
Cheers - Phil :)
Can be either, cammo on British ones was dark grey "squiggles" with the numbers in red.
Thank you, will try that. Ashamed to admit that the landing craft are already in use and not yet painted. A bit like Russian tanks at various stages.
Here we are at the end of Move 5. The Canadians have closed up to the sea wall and are rushing the two exits. However there are PAK 75 covering each exit from the rear of the village. The Germans manage 4 actions on their command rolls and concentrate on the AVRE as the most dangerous enemy at this stage, eventually racking up enough hits to brew it up.
:-bd =D> :-bd
Quote from: holdfast on 22 January 2021, 08:47:08 PM
Here we are at the end of Move 5. The Canadians have closed up to the sea wall and are rushing the two exits. However there are PAK 75 covering each exit from the rear of the village. The Germans manage 4 actions on their command rolls and concentrate on the AVRE as the most dangerous enemy at this stage, eventually racking up enough hits to brew it up.
The power of a strong defensive position in BKC cannot be underestimated.
NB: Smoke that PAK 75 is my advice ;)
I rolled to see whether the AVRE crew had seen where they were hit from and they didn't. The other tanks in the area didn't have line of sight so they had to drive through the gap. They did so, and scouted and located the PAK but then failed the command roll for their next action which would have been to drench to PAK with fire. Over to the defender!
Run it over! ;)
Don't forget your Opportunity fire 8)
The well constructed contents list in the rules is a great help as I stumble through the different options open to both sides.
Also check the Initiative actions and what is in range for your Tanks :o
Shell it, and smoke of course !
All will happen when its the Allied turn but if the PAK is firing from some distance I cannot see how the non phasing player can intervene until the German has finished. Am I missing something?
OPertunity fire may well help.
As Ian states the moment after the PAK fires - all tanks within LoS and range (that are not suppressed or knocked-out) can shoot back using opportunity fire. T
hey can do this after the PAK has fired its initial Commanded order (assuming the Command unit passes the Command roll)* - so before the 2nd order to shoot can be issued by the German HQ.
*if the German HQ commanding the HQ fails their initial Command roll, there is no Opportunity fire possible as the PAK has fired no shots for the tanks to react to. In these circumstances you could choose to use the German CO to attempt to order the PAK to shoot again (but he is on a -1 to his CV to make this order).
NB: If the PAK is within its Initiative range its initial shot does not require a Command order - as the crew are assumed to shoot using their own close range initiative.
Thanks for this clarification. My difficulty was that I was looking at the piece on Opportunity Fire on Page 20 without reading on to Opportunity Fire on page 37. All is now clear. Or clearer.
So, assuming that there are some Shermans left after the first rounds from the two PAK 88, which there are, the surviving Shermans have the opportunity to pop smoke. But what does that do to protect them?
Does it
a: totally obscure them from the wicked PAK?
or
b: reduce the hit roll for the PAK next shot, assuming that they pass the command roll?
And then,
If the German manages to roll below his command requirement for several rolls, and thereby has the opportunity for several shots, does the smoke last as long as the German command roll or does it dissipate after one phase? (My knowledge of smoke dispenser availability on Shermans is vague).
Finally, how many times can an FAO call down fire from a battery in one turn? If the player is fortunate enough to keep beating his reducing command roll, can he order the battery to fire again? Or are the guners prostrated by their earlier efforts and in need of a nice cup of tea?
Shermans had a small proportion of 75mm rounds as smoke and had a 2" bomb thrower in the roof,
Thanks for this. So it sounds as though the Sherman has a better ability to drench the opponent with smoke than to cover itself. The smoke projectors that every Cold War A vehicle had came later then I suppose. And of course, it being white phosphorous, having WP shot at you generates burning stuff that sticks rather than just smoke.
However, the ability of the low profile anti tank guns to escape detection remains an issue.
If the 88's have fired and the Shermans can see them and are in range they can fire back.
The 88's are harder to hit - as they are in a defensive position - but if you have 2 or more Shermans - some (1) can fire live ammo (HE) at the 88's (don't forget your +1 d:6 for being under half range & also for your MGs) and then others can fire Smoke at the 88's - which if successful would mask the 88's from firing on the Shermans in their next game turns.
It is a risk to shoot at the 88's - as the Smoke shells might miss. But the Shermans putting smoke out on themselves, whilst guaranteed to happen, just ends up with a stalemate situation, as the Shermans cannot see the 88's (& vice versa) but the moment the Shermans move (in their game turn) the 88's get opportunity fire. So unless you have a plan to flank the 88's with something else (infantry ideally) or drop artillery on them - it is probably worth trying to suppress or knock out the 88's. Remember just 1 successful hit could result in suppression.
Remember, this is a combined arms game - so infantry mortars - sighted by the Shermans nearest the 88's - are also potentially very effective.
Also remember to mark your Shermans to show they have made an Opportunity fire action - as that adversely effects Commanding them in their next game turn.
BTW - 2 x 88's are a formidable defensive arrangement, especially if dug-in! The range alone makes then really difficult to get at by armour.
Sounds like you are having fun :D
Thanks for this Big Insect. I will have to think the sequencing through carefully.
Given that the 88s are well cammed up, I would think it is not a foregone conclusion that they will be spotted the first time they fire. I am going to be rolling more dice than in a Warhammer game at this rate!
Also remember if your 88's fire. every tank will roll to try and view them.
also if you have a forward observer for air or artillery they can try and spot. Same goes for any Recce.
88's dug in are formidable but if you total up how many eyes will be looking for them. then they will soon be seen.
Regards
Sean
Quote from: holdfast on 27 January 2021, 11:03:41 AM
Thanks for this Big Insect. I will have to think the sequencing through carefully.
Given that the 88s are well cammed up, I would think it is not a foregone conclusion that they will be spotted the first time they fire. I am going to be rolling more dice than in a Warhammer game at this rate!
Don't get Ian on about massed dice rolling - in a previous CWC game us NATO types were rolling 66 artillery dice (per unit in the off-table artillery template) on the advancing Soviet hordes - after a while Ian gave up attempting to make the saving rolls :D ;D ;D ;D
That was Ben - not me. It's technically possible in BKC with Mike (Divisional) and Uncle (Corp) assets. That for a Mike would give you 72 25pdrs and possibly 16 5,5"
Also remember if your 88's fire. every tank will roll to try and view them.
Well it depends how many have a line of sight and at this stage the Canadian tanks are all closed down, and of course everyone is on their first outing.
I concluded that after the first rounds from the PAK that two tanks were in a position to spot them. I rolled to see whether either managed to spot either of the PAK. One did (rolled 5 or 6 to spot) and one didn't. The tank that had spotted the PAK fired smoke at it which blanketed it in smoke. So the second PAK had another shot which took out a Sherman. The one tank that was still in a position to spot the second PAK rolled to spot, this time needing 4,5,6 to spot. He succeeded and then fired smoke and blanketed off the second PAK.
That all seems a reasonable set of factors, although I wonder if they really were so good at spotting when closed down. My own experience of being in a Ferret made me feel very blinkered.
Yes - but remember each table top model/unit is a number of tanks (just as the 88's each represents a 'battery') so it is not unreasonable that one or more tanks will spot the discharge from the 88's or be able to spot the track of the in-coming shells hitting their comrades.
But I think the way it is playing out sounds pretty good from a historic as well as a game-play perspective.
It's enjoyable to get a 'blow-by-blow' move-by-move play-test like this - thank you - keep it coming :) :) :)
I have written up the saga of the PAKs, which I found instructive, but have been defeated by the 128 k limit on attachments. I will have another go later.
Here is the narrative I tried to post yesterday, without the photos all of which are over the 128kb limit.
I will resize them and post them in the next couple of days which will allow folk to make sense of the rambling text.
1. Canadian Situation Start of Turn Six
The Canadian Attack is as follows:
A Company; West. Two platoons, seven tanks (one FAO, one crocodile, one flail, 4 Sherman)
They have closed up to the wall and have suppressed the two bunkers covering the beach. A marked minefield has a breach started but the sappers have been killed so it is incomplete. One other infantry squad has been killed and one Sherman has been knocked out on the exit ramp from the beach.
The third platoon is disembarking with one Sherman and one crocodile.
Photo 1. The five tanks on the right are supporting A Coy. One Sherman has just been knocked out by the PAK 75 beyond the row of trees.
B Company, Centre, opposite the town. Two platoons, eight tanks (one FAO, one flail, 6 Sherman), one air link vehicle (soft skinned).
They have suppressed the central bunker with naval gun fire which also took out one engineer squad when it dropped short. They have also suppressed the bunker at the northeast corner of the village. No mines have been encountered but the sea wall has yet to be breached. One infantry squad has been killed and one AVRE was knocked out as it attempted to exit up the beach ramp.
The third platoon is disembarking with one Sherman.
Photo 2: The situation in the centre. The bunker has been neutralised by Naval Gunfire but its effects also took out a sapper squad.
C Company, East. Two platoons, two tanks (both Sherman).
They have encountered only light opposition. (they are facing only one platoon here and it suffered in the pre-landing bombardment. They have avoided a minefield and have suppressed the one bunker at the eastern end of the sea wall. They have lost one infantry squad so far.
The third platoon is disembarking with one Sherman and one AVRE.
Photo 3: The eastern beach exit, where the lead AVRE has been brewed up after neutralising the bunker at close range.
The Canadian Move
A Company: On the right the infantry followed a lone Sherman against the most westerly bunker, suppressing it. In the first the tanks gave suppressing fire while the infantry caught up. That group only managed two moves. The third platoon disembarks in the surf with two tanks as reinforcements. On the left, the main force with 5 tanks including the crocodile gave covering fire while the Crocodile got close enough to flame the bunker guarding the beach exit. Part of the bunker garrison perished the rest pulled back through the tunnels into the town. Then all advanced, the tanks pouring through the beach ramp. The lead Sherman got to the area where the road had been cratered earlier by Naval Gunfire and moved west into the fields, then hitting the unmarked minefield where it took one hit. This group, under the Company Commander, managed four moves before failing its command roll.
Photo 4: The Crocodile warms up the bunker, the survivors of the garrison make their excuses and leave.
B Company: On the right three tanks with a platoon advance against the (empty) central bunker and neutralise it. They manage two moves. The reinforcements disembark. On the left are four tanks with three squads. They all advance and the tanks exit the beach. At the last minute the lead tank spots the PAK 75 at the southeast corner of the village but the move then ends.
Photo 5: the flail tank spots the PAK 75 in the bunker but fails its command roll and cannot engage
C Company: Here the Canadian have two platoons with two tanks and they are almost kicking at an open goal. However, they make quite a meal of it. On the left the infantry advance on the bunker which contains one MG, using fire and movement. They also blow a hole in the sea wall, although the tanks are off to the right and cannot easily take advantage of it. Nonetheless the infantry storms the bunker and consolidate around it. The Reinforcements disembark. The Company commander wants to direct the two tanks near the beach exit to support the infantry at the breach but they fail their command roll, giving some respite to the thinly stretched German defenders who have just one squad with MG and mortars left after taking casualties earlier. They also have an FAO but his comms don't seem to be working. The only asset left to the Germans in this sector is the unmarked minefield in front of the Canadians.
The German Situation
The Germans have two platoons in the town and to the west under one HQ, and one platoon in the fields east of the town. The company HQ is on the hill to the south, with the two PAK 88, two 105 SP guns and two 222 recce under command.
The German Move
The Town Garrison: On the first move the forward squad plus mortars fire at the infantry to the front and both PAK 75 fire at the lead tank coming off the beach. All hit, one Sherman is hit but not suppressed, one is hit and suppressed. One Canadian squad is hit once and saves it on a six, being up against the sea wall. The Garrison then fails its command roll.
The Group in the fields: The FAO calls for artillery fire but doesn't get through. The remaining troops, one squad, one mortar and one MG all fire at the advancing infantry which suppresses one squad. They pass the second command roll and suppress a second squad, before failing the command roll.
Photo 6: the Germans are barely holding but the Canadians haven't found the unmarked minefield, marked by the black pins, yet.
The Company HQ Group: This group called for artillery fire and received it, so fired at the infantry in the centre approaching the town. Four squads found themselves under fire, two were suppressed but no units were eliminated. The two Recce 222 moved to the east as a backstop and took up positions to fire into the flank. The two PAK fired at one Sherman each. The Sherman in the minefield took an extra hit and was suppressed. The Sherman on its outer flank took two hits but wasn't suppressed. Two tanks had line of sight to the PAK. One PAK was spotted and smothered in smoke, the other wasn't spotted and had a second shot at the Sherman on the flank. This took two more hits which weren't saved and the Sherman brewed up.
Photo 7: Halfway through the PAK 88 vs Sherman action. The lead Sherman is suppressed in the minefield, one PAK has been smoked off the second PAK has destroyed the Sherman to the left but two more Shermans are on overwatch and then locate and smoke off the second PAK.
A further tank managed to spot the second PAK and fired smoke. Meanwhile the first German reinforcements trudged onto the board and the Company HQ managed a further 3 command rolls, during which time they repositioned one PAK 88 under cover of the smoke. While all this is going on the first German reinforcements arrive at the south end of the board and trudge forward.
That concluded a complicated move where I learned a lot.
Here are Photos 1 and 2 as mentioned in the previous post
Sounds great. It really captures the chaos of an unexpected marine assault.
One observation - the Recce 222s - if they are classified as Recce units they can only shoot in self defense. But you could classify them as Recce support - allowing you to change their abilities between recce and a normal AC unit (on a successful Command at the start of your game turn). If they change their designation they must stick to that throughout the whole game turn. If that makes sense. Check out Recce and Recce Support sections.
PS: I cannot post photos but maybe one of the other kind folk might offer you a hand to post them?
Cheers
Mark
Good advice from BI the moderator, (so named on account of his moderate IT skills I hear, as opposed to my IT skills which are sub optimal.)
Here are Photos 3 and 4.
Photos 5 and 6
and photo 7 which is as far as I have got to. To be continued!
Looks like the armour is struggling to get off the beach!
I think it's not unreasonable. On reflection I wonder whether the Canadians shouldn't be classified as 'green'.
Very impressive looking table and love the action that you have going on :).
Seconded !!
Cheers - Phil. :)
Very impressive.
8)
Moves seven and eight.
To recap, the Canadians have A Battn in the west opposite open country and eventually a hill; B CBattn in the Centre opposite the beach town, with open country behind; C Battn is in the east facing open country and eventually a wood. All have landed in three waves, the first two waves are all engaged and the third wave is making its way up the beach to join them. The Germans have a two company group in the town, one company in the open to the east and a pair of PAK 88, a pair of SP Artillery and a pair of 222. German reinforcements are starting to arrive.
In the west: The third wave fails its command roll and has a picnic on the beach. The group fighting the single bunker suppresses the MG in the bunker and fails its command roll. (This group has not had much luck with command rolls). The main group, which has got off the beach via a ramp and is storming inland, bypassing the built up area on its left. There are 5 tanks in this group, the lead one being in an unmarked minefield. the three tanks with a clear line of sight fire at the two PAK 88. Both are hit but not suppressed. The PAKs use opportunity fire which brews up the tank in the minefield. The surviving tanks fire again at the PAK and again fail to suppress them, then fail their command roll. When it is the Germans' turn they again fire at the tanks and brew up the Sherman Flail (7 hits, 3 saved but 4 are not).The Canadians use opportunity fire and miss the PAKs. The PAKs get two more shots in which suppresses the Churchill Crocodile but fails to destroy it (Crocodile saves on 3+).
In Move Eight the third wave manages to advance and again the group fighting the bunker suppresses it and runs out of steam. The group in the west smokes off one PAK but the other PAK uses opportunity fire to destroy another Sherman. When it's the German turn they have one PAK with the smoke clearing and one suppressed. The unsuppressed PAK brews up another Sherman. This leaves just the Churchill Crocodile. it's been a hard slog for the Canadians, but concentrating the PAK in this sector has left the other flank open! I will cover the other two sectors in the next post.
Those 88's are causing a real issue - time to call in some artillery or mortars maybe :D
Great report thanks
Continuing my solo journey, golly it will be nice to roll dice against an opponent once Boris lets us.
In the centre the Canadian B Battn is in a firefight from behind the sea wall, which has only just been breached, and not in the ideal place. They lose a squad to Opportunity fire and it's essentially a stalemate. However, east of the town a group of four tanks gets off the beach via a ramp. They first suppress the PAK 75 bunker at the Southeast corner of the village and then knock it out. As they start to deploy south of the village they are ambushes by the pair if 222 which tickles them but does no serious damage. In the German phase the 222 pull back, which in retrospect is a sensible thing to do. Likewise the German infantry in the village pull back to the back edge of the town.
The next turn sees the Canadians assaulting the vacated positions which again develops into a stand-off. The group of tanks east of the town are hit by German artillery, directed by the FOO on the hill. The fire is on target (I use a dice with 2 HIT sides and 4 drift direction arrows. The fire HITs and 3 of the 5 tanks are supressed, which slows down the pace of the advance.
In the east C Battn have made a breach in the sea wall and the lead company, supported by two shermans, takes on the German company. The German FOO retreats in a huff and manages to call down artillery fire onto the infantry which is securing the objective. The infantry are suppressed and one Sherman is destroyed. (Not sure if that was really allowed, perhaps it was only suppressed but the decision at the time was destroyed and there are plenty more where they came from). Beyond that the German fails his command roll, which is about time as they had been doing far too well.
In Turn Eight C Battn pushes the infantry that hasn't been suppressed forward and the remaining Germans break clean back to the wood. They are reduced to one HQ, one FOO and two 222 in this sector. The 222 both have a go at the leading tank and are spectacularly unsuccessful.
Reinforcements -wise, the Germans have a platoon with a MG in the area, plus the armoured might of a pair of 222. The war is coming to them, so nothing can possibly go wrong.
To be continued, probably it will take ac ouple of days as I absorb the rules advice on winkling out the occupants of bunkers.
Wow, looks amazing
:-bd =D> :-bd
Beautiful looking game and nice AAR too :).
Cracking !
Cheers - Phil. :)
looking good :-
maybe its time i resurected my Sword Beach game.
Regards
Sean
Reply 47 describes the overall situation. This narrative takes the battle on for three moves, moves 9, 10 and 11.
In the west A Battn makes heavy weather pushing forward with caution. (Justified because this group has lost most of its Shermans to the PAK line). However the PAK are having trouble dealing with the Churchill Crocodiles which are considerably tougher than the Sherman (Save on 3+ as opposed to 5+ for the Shermans). In two rounds of fire the PAK get 11 hits on the Croc but 8 are saved and the tank is only suppressed (probably some interesting discussion inside the Croc, whose crew has seen most of the accompanying Shermans brew up around them). In the response the Croc knocks out one PAK 88, while smoking off the other.
Further west at the edge of the board an infantry company with tanks are struggling with the last remaining bunker. They only manage to isolate it. The third wave is still moving very deliberately up the beach (not helped by a command blunder).
The Sdkfz 222, of which there are four available, may have been very useful for swanning around terrorising the French and enforcing the curfew (maybe useful for Boris' lockdown) but they are quite useless against real tanks; their only use is firing into the flank at short range.
Meanwhile German reinforcements arrive in a trickle; a weak infantry company plods in and sets up astride the road. Eventually a lone STUG arrives at the end of Move 11.
The two photos show the Crocodiles and the German reinforcements with the STUG.
By the end of this period the Crocodiles have been reinforced by a pair of Shermans so they look set to push forward.
Reviewing the three moves, in this sector the Canadians have managed 12 actions and the Germans 9.
Continuing the saga, this time in the open ground to the east, where C Battn is facing very light resistance.
The Germans have pulled back to the wood at the south east corner of the board and have been reduced to a comaby HQ, one FAO and a lone Sdkfz 222. But the Canadians couldn't know that the opposition is so weak. (But how to portray that against a real opponent?)
That said, the lead Canadian infantry company is unsupported and moves forward by bounds with some elements able to give covering fire if needed.
The second company has linked up with some tanks and has joined the fight to clear the village, in this case attacking into the village from the east flank. The first Close Assault bounces but a subsequent Close Assault takes its objective on the edge of the village.
The last company, with some tanks, are moving off the beach when the AVRE advances into an unmarked minefield.
As in the previous post, the Sdkfz 222 have a pot and again fail to make any impact.
The only German success in this area is when the FAO manages to call down artillery fire. The dilemma was whether to target the infantry advancing on the wood, or the tanks on the road south of the village well on their way to breaking out. The decision was to go for the tanks, hoping at least to suppress them to buy time for reinforcements to arrive.
The fire managed to land astride four Shermans. Luck favoured the tanks this time. When the smoke cleared only one had been suppresses and the others were relatively unscathed. (Although it could be argued that the minor damage may have damaged antennae and hence the ability to communicate).
The
The disparity between the number of moves achieved by each side was greatest here. 17 Canadian actions and only 4 German actions. Even if the Germans had had more action sit would only have allowed them more shots from the 222 though.
Oops forgot the accompanying photos.
The one shows the artillery fire hitting the tanks, using a home made template. As recorded, this fire is only marginally effective. It might have been better directed at the infantry company in the next photo, who would have been seriously disrupted by it.
The other shows the lead infantry company formed up short of the almost undefended wood, probably trying to get some artillery fire onto the wood before they venture in. With no FAO they will have a slim chance of getting help.
And finally for the time being, the action in the centre where B Battn is working into the village.
The town garrison has held its own until now, assisted by its ability to shift between strongpoints through passages. But the balance is shifting. The Germans try to suppress 6 units by spreading their fire out but only suppress one group. The return opportunity fire suppresses three squads and takes out one machine gun. With 2/3 of the defence suppressed the Canadians are able to make progress (assisted by the Garrison failing one of its command rolls).
Two separate Close Assaults are put in and succeed.
At this stage the situation in the village was such a mess that I despaired. In the end I rolled a D6 for each of the five surviving German units. On 1 or 2 the unit would surrender, on 3, 4 or 5 the unit would fall back to the allotments south of the village, on 6 the unit would move back into the village via the passages. The results were that the HQ, two platoons and a mortar pulled back, one machine gun moved back into the front edge of the village to make a nuisance of itself. No-one surrendered. Perhaps the surrender dice should have been 1/2/3?
The two photos show the remnants of the German garrison regrouping in the allotments south of the town and a shot from the west of the town, showing the Canadians on the right consolidating after their tow successful close assaults. The cheeky German machine gunners who have moved back towards the beach are in the building obscured the the church on the left.
The Canadians managed 14 moves in this period, the Germans only 4.
That gets me to the end of move 11. It remains to be seen whether the German defence will last beyond the next couple of moves.
While the action inside the village was clearly visible to the Shermans on the road, I decided that they would have been concentrating on looking forward not backwards and would have kept away. Had there been a real opponent that would doubtless have triggered some debate, and an umpire would have been useful at that stage.
Thanks for the update and am really enjoying reading how this campaign is unfolding :)
I like the allotments - very nice idea :D
The allotments first saw the light of day for a 1866 Nachod game and have been mega useful thereafter.
For the sake of completeness I will bring this solo game to an end. I soldiered on with it but the weather got better and I was redeployed onto the garden, cutting back laurel that hadn't been touched for 25 years. Today was a rest day so I was able to decipher my notes.
West. In the west the Canadians have a mixed tank and infantry group duelling with a PAK 88 and one Sdkfz 222 at the foot of the hill. The German Battn Comd is on the hill with a FOO and two SP arty behind the crest. The second company is mopping up a bunker and the third company is moving up the beach.
The new arrivals get clear of the beach, the bunker is mopped up, and the tank/infantry group advances under cover of smoke. The Germans on the hill fail to inflict any damage on the tank/inf group. The PAK 88 gets 3 hits on the lead Crocodile, all of which are saved. Photo of this moment.
Next move the Canadian FOO calls down fire onto the hill which suppresses the German FOO but misses the PAK 88. In desperation the German battn commander orders the SP arty to advance in order to engage the Canadians with direct fire, but fails his command roll before they can open fire.
Finally the two trailing Canadian companies fail their command roll. Between them they have advanced off the beach and stormed one bunker. The tank infantry group moves into the attack, blinding the PAK with smoke. The lead crocodile is now poised to flame the PAK, when a Command Blunder is rolled which moves the HQ back. The German FOO calls down artillery fire onto the crocodile and suppresses it.
The Germans have just held on here, but the two crocodiles are now so close that the battalion commander will pull out everything he can. The crew of the last PAK 88 will have to abandoned it and withdraw on foot.
Centre All three Canadian infantry companies are fighting into the town. They greatly outnumber the Germans, but the defenders have pulled back. Over the next two moves the defenders manage to eliminate two Canadian squads; the Canadians suffer a command blunder, but they persevere, killing a German MMG and a squad. Finally, the German survivors fail their command roll which is interpreted as a strong hint to surrender. The Canadians were lucky in that the Naval Gunfire at the start took out one strongpoint and the second and third waves to come ashore got up the beach to reinforce the lead company quickly. Photo Town at end.
East The Germans have already lost most of their force here. The remnants have pulled back to the wood; just one company HQ, an FOO and a Sdkfz 222. But the Canadians have no way of knowing that the opposition is so depleted. (Rules rather vague and overgenerous on spotting I feel),
One Canadian infantry company is advancing on its own, the second company has joined in the fight for the town, while the third company is taking its time (failing command rolls) getting off the beach. The Canadians use fire and movement to advance, but the German FOO brings down artillery fire onto the, which eliminates one squad and suppresses the remainder. Photo Arty onto Company.
The Canadians press on, suppressing the cheeky 222. The German FOO gets lucky and brings in more artillery fire, but this drifts and the Canadians aren't even suppressed. They are joined by a single Sherman and with that support they storm the front edge of the wood. The Germans retreat off the board, and the Sherman moves towards the centre to join the tank battle. The lead Canadian company has done well and has achieved its objective with almost no support from the follow-on waves.
The Centre Rear; the Reinforcements Battle At the end of the previous period the Canadian armour, a group of 6 Shermans, was south of the town poised to make an end run down the tree lined road and off the board. A single STUG and a weak infantry company barred the way. However, the armour group only managed to move once and fire, to little effect. The German opportunity fire suppressed a pair of Shermans. The German reinforcement dice roll delivered the goods, just in time. Three Panzer IV rolled onto the board. They were allowed a Command Roll and managed a double 1 to give them two actions. This enabled them to move unseen into the hedge line and open fire. Photo Panzer IV arriving. One Sherman was knocked out, two were suppressed. The Canadian opportunity fire smoked two Panzer IV but the third Panzer IV and the STUG managed more suppression. This left three Shermans suppressed, one burning and two still in the fight. A kindly umpire might have allowed the Shermans to make smoke and pull back a bound, (but the rules don't allow it and it was a rules tutorial, so we soldiered on.)
The next Canadian move had 5 Shermans, three of which were suppressed, in the open, facing three Panzer IV and a STUG, all in cover. The two active Shermans managed to suppress one Panzer IV and a stray 222. Not enough. The German opportunity fire brewed up one of the Shermans. The one active Sherman left then fired at a Panzer and missed. The Canadians removed their suppression and hoped for better times. The Germans started their turn with two Panzers and the STUG active. Their fire suppressed three Shermans. Canadian opportunity fire from the remaining unsuppressed Sherman was ineffective. The Panzers fired again and got enough hits on two of the suppressed Shermans to knock them out. The two surviving Shermans pulled back under smoke to regroup. They would have to summon the other remaining armour, grip the FOO until artillery support was forthcoming, link up with the infantry and then plan and mount a deliberate attack. All of which would take time.
The Losses:
Attackers:
The Canadian tanks suffered most, losing 12 Shermans and one Churchill out of 20 and 4 respectively, so fully 50% losses. The Churchill thicker armour came in handy.
The Canadian infantry lost 9 out of 27 platoons, and 3 out of 6 engineer platoons. Supporting MMG and Mortars were unscathed.
Defenders:
The German garrison of the entire beach front was lost, 9 platoons, 8 out of 9 MMG; one of 3 mortars and all 3 PAK 75. The two PAK 88 were lost, although one crew slipped away.
The German reinforcements fared better. Five infantry platoons turned up and barred the way until the German armour arrived, on a lucky dice roll, just in time.
The Verdict:
I think missed chances for Opportunity Fire early on, as I was working my way through the rules.
The reduction in Command Value for units that had used Opportunity or Initiative Fire was not managed scrupulously, and I now understand much better the need to use different coloured markers to keep track of those aspects.
The decision whether to spread one's fire to try to suppress several opponents, or to concentrate it on fewer targets to try to destroy them is tricky.
I think the rules on spotting concealed units are overgenerous, and I will be more generous to the defender if he is in a prepared position. The Allies had a torrid time with concealed units in Normandy.
I now feel more confident about taking on a live opponent, hopefully with a seasoned umpire.
End of BKC Solo Game of Juno Beach
Still a brilliant game 8)
Sounds great fun.
Cheers - Phil. :)
Got at agree a brilliant game
Quote from: holdfast on 23 March 2021, 10:05:23 PM
This left three Shermans suppressed, one burning and two still in the fight. A kindly umpire might have allowed the Shermans to make smoke and pull back a bound, (but the rules don't allow it and it was a rules tutorial, so we soldiered on.)
The Shermans can make smoke in as an Initiative action or as an Opportunity action - or had you already used these up?
Also - meant to say it is a cracking write up and a super game - well done mate, well done.
The concealment issue is one that dogs a lot of WW2 rules sets - if you are not 'generous' to the attacker (spotter) the game can bog-down and the attacker just gets picked-off by enemy defenders well hidden in cover. If you are too generous then concealment can be meaningless - so it is a fine balance.
NB: I thought your German armoured counter attack being so effective was very realistic - sounds to me like those Sherman crews got overly confident to their own cost!
I notice that some of your Germans fought to the last man in some instances.
I am always a little dubious about this, unless the units are fanatic types (SS) or are in a position where escape is not possible.
One thing you can do to replicate this is calculate the break-point of individual formations (often Commands) in a larger battle - so 50% of on-table units, excluding all command units & recce. Once you hit that level you can either start dicing for them (as per an army break-point) or you can set up specific actions based around dice - e.g. 1-2 they break, 3-4 they withdraw fighting towards baseline 5-6 they stay on fighting.
This sort of approach works well in a campaign situation or in large battles or big multi-player games.
But as stated above - some good learnings for sure and a great way to get to grips with the rules in a structured combined arms way. Nice to see the naval guns playing a part as well :D
Thanks for yours Big Insect.
I kept trying to find an excuse for the Germans in the town to surrender but couldn't make one up.
I think I might have diced for each squad once they were fighting fairly much isolated.
Turning to the Shermans popping smoke, they weren't within Initiative range so that wasn't an option. As opportunity, presumably the suppressed Shermans cannot use Opportunity action so I think they were hung out to dry.
As for the German riposte, it was what they were trained to do. The War Diary of 12 SS Panzer lists all the drills they carried out in April and May and the immediate counter attack featured heavily.
And of course the Shermans were on their first outing with unbloodied folk at every level. (Keller, commanding the Canadians, was a Captain in 1942 I think, and of course the Canadian Army was pitifully small at the start of the War so everyone was operating several steps above their comfort zone. As were the Panzers, but they were commanded by some hard bitten ex Eastern Front types.
A good learning exercise. I will now be a rules lawyer.
Quote from: holdfast on 24 March 2021, 05:53:08 PM
Turning to the Shermans popping smoke, they weren't within Initiative range so that wasn't an option. As opportunity, presumably the suppressed Shermans cannot use Opportunity action so I think they were hung out to dry.
Yes - you are quite correct - they can only Opportunity fire to the enemy armour moving or firing ... :'( :'( :'(
that's rather easy to forget!
Great write up. Reading on my phone so I Missed the allotment discussion and spotting.
I always forget op firing when someone fires. I usually just op fore on movement.
Great bird as well