Game of WW2, France, Normandy, 6th June 1944.
Using Rapid Fire in 20mm.
Organized, using terrain and models and umpired by Chris Caves.
AAR by Gary.
Players
German : Andy and Stevie.
Allies : Jeremy, Ian and Gary.
I took part in a very nice game put on by Chris based on the landings on Sword Beach on 6th June 1944 using Rapid Fire (mainly Reloaded but with some bits of RF2).
Chris brought his usual superb terrain (10' x 5') depicting the beach area around Ouistreham and St Aubin using his lovely 20mm kit and terrain.
Some excellent looking concrete defenses and landing craft included.
German defenders (with early intervention from elements of 21st Panzer) were controlled by Andy and Stevie with Jeremy, Ian and I commanding elements of the Great Crusade.
A really excellent game it was too (Rapid Fire shines for this sort of endeavor).
British divided into 3 separate landing waves with plenty of 'Funnies' and other armour in first wave and 3 Battalions of well equipped Infantry in following waves (with more armour and Commandoes).
Huns had bunkers with 50mm or 75mm (in the Casino) AT guns, with several MG bunkers and numerous weapons pits, with some Panzer Grenadiers, Stugs, PzIIIs and couple of Marders arriving later.
Brits had a preliminary Naval Bombardment (which was pants) with ongoing support from naval assets (once FOO on table) and several sorties of rocket armed Typhoons.
Germans had access to Merville Battery (we rolled to silence it and failed at start) and later some Nebelwerfers.
Initial turns saw Naval fire fail and Germans also fail to hit any landing vessels (thankfully)
First Allied wave landed on right at St Aubin with subsequent waves coming in at center and left (Commandoes directly at Ouistreham).
British had several DD Tanks most of which failed to reach the beach.
Flail tanks cleared the beaches of mines under a barrage of anti-tank fire whilst 'dust-bin' firing Petard armed Churchills struggled to deal with bunkers.
German direct fire proved very accurate initially (so many 5s and 6s !!) and soon British tanks were burning all across the beach with foot sloggers slowly cross the sands under fire
First RAF sortie was shot from the sky but this nastiness seemed to inspire the invading troops who then used demo charge and flames throwers to take out the Casino and defended building at St Aubin which put a dent in German firepower.
However soon their armour arrived and seemed the invaders might get overwhelmed on the beach.
But British fire then proved deadly with Commandoes assaulting bunkers and a PzIII and the Marders lost to further Typhoon sorties and Sherman fire.
By this stage the Hun beach defence line was pierced in several places and weight of Allied numbers was beginning to tell as position after position was destroyed and a British victory was declared albeit a rather bloody one.
The battle blow by blow.
The invaders in their waves.
Quiet before the storm
.
First wave disembarks near St Aubin.The Casino in Ouistreham untouched by naval fire and housing a nasty Pak 40.
Allies ashore but Sherman burning.
Central German bunker which survived naval fire, Petards and tank fire finally succumbing only to direct assault by Engineers'
Slow progress (6" per turn in sand) across the beach.
Formidable defences at Ouistreham, Several bunkers and that sea wall.
Central area less formidable but swept by enfilading fire.
Beach obstacles and mines hampered the British armour.
Note the two large Bunkers to rear represented supporting batteries further inland and could not fire directly onto beach or be fired upon but could target units at sea, at which they proved to be pants.
Action hot and heavy with both sides suffering losses (lots of brewed armour).
Commandoes have destroyed the Casino and are pressing further into town as last of British support units arrive.
The landing fleet has miraculously remained intact.
Central bunker has at last fallen as British armour moves passes by.
Sea front at Ouistreham is in flames (fall of bunker on left cut of German access to support batteries).
Lots of burning armour on beach.
But central zone has been fully breached.
Ding dong duels between Stugs, Shermans and Churchills at St Aubin.
Typhoon helps deal with Marders on road out of town.
View from German side as Commandoes assault.
And from crumbling centre.
Last Hun reserves stalk Allied armour.
A busy beach indeed.
The Commandoes advance.
Incredibly the German artillery failed to hit this target rich environment.
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We are fortunate to get a second AAR, done by Chris and posted on the Facebook Rapid Fire Reloaded group.
Saturday saw me setting up and running a D-Day sword beach club participation game in 20mm at the Ulster Wargames Society
There were 3 allied players each with 4 full battalions and armoured support faced off against a couple of German defenders whilst I umpired and kept things rolling.
I used rapid fire reloaded and the sword beach map from the old rapid fire campaign guide as the basis. The table included two large Morris / Hillman “bunkers “ disproportionately close to the beach ( however these gun positions were only allowed to fire indirectly onto the approaching armada ).
The only other variations were the use of a Canadian battalion ,and the Royal Marines landing on a different part of the beach ( I gave the allied commander autonomy to distribute forces ).
The game was great fun and introduced 3 new players to rapid fire reloaded supported by 2 regular players.
I have also attached a few photos from test games ( in case you wonder why the “end “ photos of the action vary ).
The table and kit has been put together by myself with most of the infantry being old SHQ figures which blend perfectly with the many plastic figures , most of the armour is Airfix ( Sherman’s and Churchills built 25+ years ago ).
The landing ships include several from Raventhorpe ( still available ) Airfix LCM’s ,LCI from Britannia , along with some of the buildings.
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Editorial comment :
It's not a bit surprising the British won, they came a week early completely confusing the Germans.
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Photos curtesy of Gary and Chris.
