World War Weekend 5

Normandy: D-Day and Beyond

Introduction

About twice a year I host a game night in my home for my non-gamer friends. To leverage the investment in time and effort, I usually run two consecutive nights with two different groups of friends, and at some point began calling my event the World War Weekend, or WWW. On December 8-9, 2006, I hosted WWW5.

The theme for WWW5 was Normandy: D-Day and Beyond. Players controlled groups of 25mm scale infantry, armor, and artillery on a 72 sq. ft. game board representing an area of Normandy, France from the invasion beaches to the "bocage country" and the city of Caen. The game includes most of the significant aspects of the Normandy invasion, including;

Beach landings by American, British, and Canadian armor and infantry

Glider-borne British paratroops assault on the Pegasus Bridge

American paratroopers

French resistance fighters

German "Static" division, Wehrmacht, and Waffen SS troops

The "Altantic Wall" (bunkers, gun emplacements, minefields, beach obstacles, etc.)

infantry, armor, artillery, naval support

This was a game of grand scale for me. I hope you enjoy the report!

Objectives for World War Weekend 5

My friends are all educated professionals with varying degrees of interest in and knowledge of military history, so it is a challenge to come up with something that is both impressive in its depth and scope while still being playable by gaming novices in a single evening. Past World War Weekends that I have hosted have included the American Civil War Battle of First Bull Run in 15mm scale using the Fire and Fury rules, and several 25/28mm skirmish games using the Savage Worlds rules by Pinnacle.

My goals for the WWW5 game were manifold. I wanted to do a grand scale game which would be impressive in physical size. I also wanted the players to face a variety of different military situations and challenges, from the strategic down to the tactical level (more on how this ambitious goal later!). I also wanted a fluid, dynamic game that would be fun for these non-gamers. There had to be enough going on at any one time such that no one was standing around with their hands in their pockets. Because people tend to arrive and depart at different times over the course of the evening, there had to be enough distinctive and different units in play so that control could be crisply transferred back and forth as the players changed. I needed to pick a battle, or at least era, that would be recognizable to everyone, ruling out . Many of my friends (but not me of course) are getting to that magical age in life when our arms become too short to hold small objects far enough from our eyes to be able to see them clearly, so I decided that 25mm scale was the way to go.

Based on my goals, I opted to portray the Allied invasion of Normandy, France in June 1944. The scale of the operation was, of course, more than adequate for a grand scale game. The variety of forces involved, including American, British, Canadian, Free French, resistance, paratroopers and glider infantry on the Allied side and a variety of forces of differing quality on the German side, fit my requirement for diversity well.

For rules, I chose Flames of War, adapted for 25mm scale. For more about this decision and how it worked out, read more here.

Order of Battle

The novelty of this game (for me at least) was that the entire operation was bathtubbed (reduced in scope) down to a manageable and affordable scale. Given the number of figures I had on hand, the number I was willing to purchase and paint, and the number and organization of the actual forces involved, I ended up condensing the battle down by a factor of around 500:1. That meant that a squad of eight to ten soldiers would represent a regiment or more of actual combatants! An entire division, for example the US 4^th ID, would be represented by about 30 figures on the board, which coincidentally is about the number of soldiers that were carried ashore in a single LCVP (Higgins boat). This bathtubbing may sound a bit silly, and I was under no delusions when I started that this game would accurately simulate the actual (or possible) outcome of the actual campaign. It is a game, after all. However, I hoped that the scope and depth of the game would challenge the players with a variety of situations and allow them to experience the consequences of decisions ranging from the operational level (like which division landed at which beach) to the tactical level, where the actual combat would take place.

(Disclaimer: I dont claim the unit designations below are completely, accurately historical, so please forgive any artistic license I have taken with the OOB.)

Division	Regiment	Figures	Motivation	Skill

American

1st Infantry	16th	10 figures	Confident	Trained
	18th	10 figures	Confident	Trained
	26th	10 figures	Confident	Trained

29th Infantry	115th	10 figures	Confident	Trained
	116th	10 figures	Confident	Trained
	175th	10 figures	Confident	Trained
		2x60mm mortar w/6 crew	Confident	Trained
		1x57mm AT Gun	Confident	Trained

4th Infantry	8th	10 figures	Confident	Trained
	12th	10 figures	Confident	Trained
	22nd	10 figures	Confident	Trained


82nd Airborne	505th	10 figures	Fearless	Trained
	506th	10 figures	Fearless	Trained
	507th	10 figures	Fearless	Trained

746th Tank Battalion		2xM4 Sherman	Confident	Trained


British

6th Airborne	2nd Ox & Bucks	10 figures	Fearless	Veteran

3rd Infantry	8th Bd	8 figures	Confident	Veteran
	9th Bd	8 figures	Confident	Veteran
	185th Bd	8 figures	Confident	Veteran

50th (Northumbrian) Infantry	69th	8 figures	Confident	Veteran
	150th	8 figures	Confident	Veteran
	151st	8 figures	Confident	Veteran

8th Armored Brigade		2xM4 Sherman	Confident	Trained

27th Armored Brigade		2xM5 Stuart	Confident	Trained

FRENCH

Resistance		8 figures	Fearless	Conscript




German

716th Static Infantry	1st	8 figures	Reluctant	Trained
	2nd	8 figures	Reluctant	Trained
	3rd	8 figures	Reluctant	Trained

709th Static Infantry	1st	8 figures	Reluctant	Trained
	2nd	8 figures	Reluctant	Trained

11th Field Artillery		3x10.5cm howitzer w/10 crew	Confident	Trained

352nd Infantry	1st	10 figures	Confident	Veteran
	2nd	10 figures	Confident	Veteran
	3rd	10 figures	Confident	Veteran
		2xHMG w/6 crew	Confident	Veteran
		2x8.0cm mortar w/8 crew	Confident	Veteran

91st Airlanding Infantry	1st	10 figures	Confident	Veteran
	2nd	10 figures	Confident	Veteran
	3rd	10 figures	Confident	Veteran

12SS Panzer	1st	1xPanther	Fearless	Veteran
	2nd	9 figures	Fearless	Veteran
	3rd	9 figures	Fearless	Veteran

21st Panzer	1st	1xPzIV	Confident	Veteran
	2nd	1xPzIV	Confident	Veteran

Normandy

The board represented an area from the eastern edge of the Cotentin Pennisula to just east of the Caen Canal, and from the invasion beaches in the north to an area south of the town of Caen. More about the design and fabrication of the board can be found here.

I represented four of the historic beaches; Utah, Omaha, Sword, and Gold. Since I only had enough figures to represent two British divisions, I reluctantly decided not to model the Canadian landings at Juno Beach.

The German defenses at each beach were approximately equal at one Resistance Nest (Widerstandnest, or WN) astride each beach exit. Each WN was comprised of less-motivated troops that were nevertheless well-trained (Reluctant Trained). Troops in the WN were dug-in under Bulletproof Cover and protected with barbed wire entanglements and minefields to their front. Four additional, independent concrete bunkers contained 7.5cm AT guns and heavy machine guns. These weapons covered most of the beach, in places with overlapping fields of fire.

Fortress Europe awaits -- a German gun emplacement on the Atlantic Wall.

Determining the Victor

The Allies were awarded points toward victory as follows:

Destroying all Atlantic Wall bunkers and Resistance Nests (Widerstandnest or WN) (10 points)

Capturing and holding the Pegasus Bridge across the Caen Canal. (10 points)

Capture and hold the town of St. Mere Eglise (10 points)

Capture and hold the town of Caen (20 points)

Eliminating the guns at Brecourt Manor (5 points)

A town was considered captured if no German figure or vehicle was within their Command Distance of any building in that town. A bridge was considered captured if no German figure or vehicle is within their Command Distance of any building of the bridge. Guns, bunkers, and WN are eliminated if no German figures are within their Command Distance of them.

Points were awarded based on the situation at the conclusion of the game (Turn 20).

Victory is based on total Allied points as follows:

50-55 Points Major Allied Victory

30-45 Points Marginal Allied Victory

10-25 Points Marginal Axis Victory

5 Points Major Axis Victory

Battle Report

As mentioned previously, I ran this game two nights in a row with a different set of players. The first night was attended by no fewer than nine players, not including me serving as the game master, and lasted for five hours. The second night was played by only three players besides me, started late, and had to be ended after only two hours, long before victory could be predicted for either side. Because the first night was a more complete game, I will cover only that game in this report.

The first two players arrived promptly and, after choosing sides, the game began. The Allied player rolled a Skill test to determine if the Horsa glider (a scale paper model from Fiddlers Green) landed inside the barbed wire barrier blocking the east end of Pegasus Bridge. They failed, but were able to deploy, cross the wire, and dispatch the Germans guarding the bridge on the far side with an assault by Turn 4 (0400). So far, so good for the Allies.

Ox and Bucks! British paratroopers cross Pegasus Bridge and the battle is on.

Next came the American US 82^nd Airborne landings in Turn 4 (0400) at the other end of the board representing the eastern coastal region of the Cotentin Pennisula. Two more players had shown up by then, and I recommended to the player controlling the US paratroops that he knock out the three 10.5cm guns and their crews at Brecourt Manor, which he proceeded to do despite stiff resistance from German troops representing elements of the 91^st Airlanding Division. The latter were placed on the board using the FOW ambush rules, as were about 75% of the German forces during the game. The player commanding the US airborne and the German player controlling the inland forces would continue to spar throughout the evening, including a thrust by the US toward Caen that was repulsed by forces of the German 352^nd Infantry that were previously unknown to be in the area. This fighting took a heavy toll on the paratroopers, but kept the vast majority of the German forces away from the beaches.

The Americans landed the first troops on Omaha and Utah Beaches in Turn 6 (0600). These troops represented the US 1^st ID and 4^th ID respectively. While heavily armed with light machine guns, bazooka, BAR, and of course the M1 Garand, they were without the benefit of armor. Two newly-arrived players each took command of US forces at one of the beaches. The forces of both were pummeled by German HMG fire from the bunkers and repeatedly pinned down in front of the barbed wire by fire from the WN. Two regiments were reduced to nearly half strength while still on the beaches. Eventually the player controlling the forces at Omaha Beach was able to assault the Germany infantry entrenched in the WN and clear it of German troops. He then turned west to help clear the WN blocking the beach exit in front of the forces landing at Utah Beach.

The British landed the 50^th (Northumbrian) ID and 3^rd ID on Gold and Sword Beaches respectively on Turn 8 (0800). The simultaneous arrival of the 8th Armored Brigade at Gold Beach and the 27^th Armored at Sword Beach would prove invaluable to the British effort. The Shermans took out a 7.5cm AT gun in a concrete bunker with accurate fire from their main guns, then both the Shermans and Stuarts trundled over the barbed wire in front Gold Beach and assaulted the WN, completely routing the German defenders with only light losses to the infantry. The tanks pushed inland and ran into entrenched elements of the 352^nd Infantry just south of the beach exits. Without waiting for the infantry, the British tanks crashed into the German trenches but quickly ran into trouble. The first assault failed when one tank bogged in the rough going and a Stuart crew baled out as a result of Panzershrek fire. However, the British soon recovered and launched a second assault which cleared the defenders and left the way to Caen clear or so they thought.

Meanwhile, the second wave, consisting of the US 29^th ID, arrived at Omaha Beach on Turn 10 (1000). By then, the beach exit from Omaha was open and the exit from Utah nearly so.

The German 352^nd Infantry Division held positions in Caen, and the 21^st Panzer Division arrived at the south edge of the town on Turn 10 (1000) and advanced to a position north of town just in time to collide with the British armor advancing south from Gold and Sword Beaches. The Shermans and Pz IVs traded fire but not until a Sherman was able to flank one of the German tanks was their fire effective. The surviving Pz IV pulled back to where it was protected on both flanks by a cemetery wall on one side and a concrete HMG emplacement manned by soldiers from the German 352^nd Infantry on the other.

The British infantry flooded southwest toward Caen, delayed briefly by resistance put up by the German 352^nd Infantry. On Turn 15 (1500), a Panther tank and infantry of the 12SS Panzer Division arrived from the south and took up positions in Caen. Despite a few attempts, the Germans could not be dislodged from Caen in the remaining two turns.

By Turn 18 (1800) the Allies held the Pegasus Bridge and destroyed the guns at Brecourt Manor, but failed to completely clear the beach defenses and held neither Caen nor St. Mere Eglise by the end of the game. The game was judged a Marginal Axis Victory because the Allies did not completely achieve their objectives for June 6, 1944. However, this did roughly correspond with the historical result.

Conclusions

Naval gunfire support was available for both British and American players. It was used almost exclusively against the concrete bunkers. While not ineffective, it took a combination of naval gunfire, small arms and bazooka fire, tank gun fire, and (in one attempt) assaulting the concrete bunkers to pin or reduce their crews. In only one case was a bunker completely destroyed, in this case by British Sherman tanks.

More Photos!