Somewhere in Normandy, 1944

As planned, my good friend Keith Flint came over to have a run out of his Startline WWII rules that he is developing. All the previous games I've played have been set in Poland 1939, so Keith naturally wanted to try a different theatre and period of the war. We settled on Normandy 1944 as a rough guide for the game and tried to get as much different kit onto the table as we could. To keep things simple we had no air aupport, nor anti-tank guns, going for infantry supported by a variety of tanks. This was very much a trial game to test the rules, so we weren't too worried about points etc, but more on that later. First off, eye candy:

An overview of the table, with the British arriving from the far end. Left of the road was broadly open, to the right Bocage, to compare what effect it might have on the game.

Shermans and Stuarts deployed.

Churchills supported by infantry.

Stug III's in position by the crossroad.

The German infantry amongst the Baocage, where they could get the most cover.

Shermans begin to brew up in the distance, all too rather historical...

Churchills move off the road, unaware of the German infantry lurking nearby.

The Shermans taking a pasting.

Pz IV's arrive along the road.

The British move to contact as the Germans get ready to meet them.

The end of the Shermans.

The German armour dominate the crossroads.

The Churchills try to move round the German flank, unaware of German infantry in the wood (extreme left of the photo).

German armour moves forward and a Pz IV brews up.

A Jadgpanther faces off with a Churchill down the road.

The 'Big Cat'.

The Stuarts wisely seek cover from the Jagdpanther.

End of the Game

Not that it mattered much, but by the end of Turn 5, the British had lost too much armour to be able to realistically contest control of the objectives. The Germans had too much armour left and so would have been able to roll up the British from their right flank over a couple of Turns.

Post Game Thoughts

Well that was a good game and did exactly what Keith wanted, in giving the rules a good run out, but in a 'new' setting. Some points that came up during the game:

• We went for roughly that same number of troops per side, but it quickly became obvious that the German Stug III's in cover had a big advantage over the Shermans in the open. Obviously historical, but in game terms too much of an advantage to the Germans.
• In the scenario as written, both sides would have equal points, which didn't work in this case. We thought a 50% advantage (or more) to the Attacker would be required to make this a more even and interesting contest.
• Currently the Defender has 50% of his force off table, which can come on after Turn 3 on a die roll. This felt too random and could negatively impact the Defender, so rather like BKCII, the Defender would be better off having all of his force on the table, with the Attacker having more points as outlined above.
• Having played a few games of these rules now, I felt more comfortable with them and started to understand the thinking behind them, of course in large part due to chatting with Keith during the game.
• We had to use some blank markers as I do not have 2" mortars or PIAT's for my BKCII forces, ditto Panzerfausts or Panzershrecks. So I'm sure I have some figures in a box somewhere, so will probably get these based and painted up at somepoint for use in future games.

A busy week or two beckons, but I hope and need to crunch on with getting figures painted for the CWD show which is about 5 weeks away. I managed to add flags and flock to three Battalions of infantry last night, so have Jaegers, Command and Artillery to start to complete this Brigade. Then there is some Cavalry to paint, not something I really enjoy!

TTFN.