D-Day 6th June - Juno Beach - The Landings

So having set the scene as it were last post, time to crack on with the action. First some photos of the table, to give a sense of it's place in relation to the other beaches etc.

Love Beach. Mike Green Beach is at the top of the table, with Vaux off table top right. La Riviere and Gold Beach are off the bottom of the table.

Le Buisson is the hamlet top centre and the objective for the Canadians, as just past it is the 'Yew' first objective line.

WN33a surrounded by wire and mines. I didn't have enough wire, so used some tank traps in lieu of these. Oh the shame😉!

The view along the beach, covered by the Pak 40 in the bunker.

The MG Tobruk and Infantry in a trench.

The Panzerturm and HQ, with Infantry in Le Buisson.

MG, FAO and 81mm Mortar positions.

The view of the beach, which is eerily quiet...

The Canadians all ready to go.

The Action

As always, annotated photos will hopefully give you an idea of how things unfolded.

H-Hour -1. The pre-invasion barrage opened up, with the Landing Craft Rocket saturating the T-junction defences, causing immense damage. HMS Venus targeted WN33a, but failed to knock it out, as the concrete was too tough. 13th Field Regiment's Priest opened up from their Landing Craft, targeting the T-junction also. The weight of fire did not knock out any positions, but did cause them to be temporarily suppressed, which was the main aim for when the troops began to land.

The way off the beach looks open, as the wire and mines have been severely damaged, but are still a threat, albeit less than before.

The end of Turn 1: H-Hour. The first wave landed successfully, with the Trois-Rivieres Dragoons Shermans pushing forward, but the Voltigeurs de Quebec Infantry stalled on the beach and failed to move forward, possibly as a result of failing to get through to the St Hyacinthe Priests assigned to them. As the Germans recovered their senses, the Mortar opened up on the Infantry, but luckily the German FAO was off the mark with his Artillery, which fell amongst the Shermans, causing no damage. The Panzerturm opened up hitting a Sherman, but they returned fire, quickly knocking it out.

The Infantry stall and come under accurate Mortar fire.

The Trois-Rivieres Dragoons make light work of the Panzerturm.

The knocked out Panzerturm.

The end of Turn 2. The second wave arrives, but 'Hobart's Funnies' are late, but look set to land next Turn. As the Infantry land, they manage to suppress to Mortar as they call in support from the St Hyacinthe Priests. Likewise the Priests provide support, managing to suppress the MG Tobruk and cause the Infantry in the trench to break and run. The Trois-Rivieres Dragoons come under fire from WN33a, which manages to suppress the Sherman, who in return pour fire into the Bunker, managing to suppress it before it can cause more damage.

The Shermans of the Trois-Rivieres Dragoons engage WN33a.

The Infantry still fail to move forward.

The second wave infantry make slow progress up the beach.

The German Infantry breaks under the weight of fire.

The end of Turn 3. The thrid wave arrives and thankfully the Mortar is once again suppressed by fire from the St Hyacinthe Priests. 'Hobart's Funnies' arrive and push forward, closely followed by a Company of the Voltigeurs de Quebec, who assault WN33a and knock it out, a major blow for the Germans. The Trois-Rivieres Dragoons, seeing the threat from the Bunker neutralised, move carefully through the damaged minefield to began to try and break out from the beach head. The Germans fail to have access to their 105mm Artillery, but the MG Tobruk manages to suppress an Infantry platoon.

WN33a is knocked out in close assault by the Voltigeurs de Quebec.

'Hobart's Funnies' move forward, ready to try and clear the minefield.

The Trois-Rivieres Dragoons begin to push forward and off the beach.

The third wave Infantry ready to follow on.

On the left the Infantry are struggling to make headway.

The end of Turn 4. The minefield by WN33a is cleared and 'Hobart's Funnies' advance throught it, whilst the Trois-Rivieres Dragoons overrun the MG Tobruk and close in on Le Buisson. The German Mortar and MG continues to inflict damages on the Voltigeurs de Quebec, but the former is finally knocked out and the latter suppressed. The Germans manage to access their 105mm Artillery, which causes some casualties to the Infantry.

The way through the minefiled is clear.

The Infantry reform in the shelter of WN33a.

The demise of the MG Tobruk.

The Shermans close in on Le Buisson.

The dreaded Mortar is finally knocked out.

The Infantry stalled by accurate Mortar and Artillery fire.

The end of Turn 5. The Naval FAO manages to contact HMS Fury, which bombards Le Buisson and suppresses the Infantry unit in there. The St Hyacinthe Priests provide sterling support once again, supressing the remaining German MG. The Trois-Rivieres Dragoons overrun the German HQ, who flees off table, as well as closing in on Le Buisson, ably supported by 'Hobart's Funnies'. The Germans see that the writing is on the wall and surrender at once, as any further resistance is futile.

The Infantry finally begin to clear the beach.

The AFV's begin to envelope Le Buisson.

The German HQ is overrun.

The last Germans are suppressed and face the might of a Churchill Crocodile.

Infantry ove up towards Le Buisson, passing through the rocket damaged minefield.

On the left, the Infantry finally make it to the barbed wire.

A view from the German position in Le Buisson.

End of the Game

In the end a much quicker victory for the Canadians than I had expected. After a slow start and some stop start firing from the Germans, suddenly the Canadians were at Le Buisson and the game was all over bar the shouting. If I had played the normal Breakpoint rules for the Germans, then maybe by Turn 3 it would have required Break Tests, but that didn't feel right to me. In campaign terms the Canadians are off Love Beach more quickly than planned,  and have secured their 'Yew' objective line, so have a slight edge on the Germans in the next game, who will not have had as much time to respond to the landings.

Canadian Losses

So at the end of the action, looking at the hits spread across all 4 Companies, we have:

1 x Voltigeurs de Quebec Infantry Company

1 x Trois-Rivieres Dragoons Troop

Post Game Thoughts

This game/campaign has had a long gestation phase and, despite a whole toolbox of spanners in the work in the week, it was nice to finally get the first game played out. I did enjoy it and as always, a mix of post match thoughts in no particular order:

• I was happy with the visual look of the game. The Geek Villain beach mat worked a treat, even though the beach section is really too deep for 10mm games using BKCII. Something that would be easy to address for future games, but you don't know these things until you give them a try.
• Even though I'm very happy and comfortable with BKCII, trying to translate the historical pre-invasion bombardment into game terms was tricky, coupled with how tough or not to make the defences. In the end I think I got a good balance. I felt both sides had a decent chance to 'win', which would have meant inflicting more casualties for the Germans, which they could have done if they'd had another round or two of Mortar fire or if WN33a had another bunch of shots at the Trois-Rivieres Shermans. 
• I realised that as I was setting the game up that I really needed loads more barbed wire, but luckily had some tank obstacles to hand that could make a decent visual stand in, even though of course they were not used on Juno Beach. The sources I used all had slightly different takes on where and how much wire and minefields were used. In hindsight the Germans could have made use of slightly more depth for the defences, but that might have unduly unbalanced the game. Yet another tricky balancing act.
• Translating the Canadian OOB was very easy, as it is basically a standard Battalion, but with most of the organic support arriving later. For the Germans this part of Love Beach was just defended by a single Platoon, so I had to be a bit creative to give them a fighting chance and to make the game worth playing, so it wasn't just a parade off the beach. Hence including Le Buisson as part of the defence as well as on objective to fight for. In a sense this took on a similar role to that of Vaux that was attacked by 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade.
• As this is a small and narrative campaign game 'inspired' by the action of the aforementioned 7th Brigade, the whole action felt a lot more important and involved than if it were a standalone action. Taking the losses into account is part and parcel of this and really adds to the flavour and decision making moving forward.
• Reading the historical accounts and the casualties suffered seem about right, in the sense that they were inflicted by Mortar and MG fire. At the end I though the losses were higher than they were, so was rather relieved that the Voltigeurs de Quebec were still very much combat effective.
• This game worked well as a solo outing, as I could make reasonable calls and assumptions as the game progressed. If it had been face-to-face, then as the German players it wouldn't have been much fun and with few choices to make, other than roll some dice.
• I'm really enjoying playing this fictional French-Canadian Brigade, rather like I have with the South Gloucestershires. At some point it would be nice to add a bit more detail, ie commanders names etc, plus some unit labels to help with the narrative in the AARs. 

What Next?

Well aside from planning the next scenario, which will be and is always fun, I need to try and paint up some German ATGs, plus some British/Canadian ATGs and SPGs. Nice to have some focus and of course a sort of self-imposed deadline to work to. The next game won't be for another few weeks due to family commitments next weekend with Father's Day etc. Hopefully that will give me time to really crack on and get these new toys painted.

Well I hope you enjoyed that AAR and well done for getting this far! As always any comments greatly appreciated.

TTFN.

D-Day 6th June - Juno Beach - Campaign Overview

Slightly later than planned, due to real life spanners in the works in the run up to the 6th June, I'm finally ready to kick off my fictional campaign. This is based upon the Canadians in Normandy in the first due days of and after the landings, rather than a historical refight as it were. However it is very much based upon the actions of the Canadian 7th Brigade, so give it a good basis in fact, or at least that is my aim. Some liberties have been taken to try and make it more of a game for both sides, but only time will tell if this has worked!

The setting is Love Beach on Juno, which was not used on D-Day, but was the spark for a 'what if?' type narrative campaign using BKCII. Now I did start this some time ago, but then I have lost all the notes I made, but luckily most of my ideas came back to me pretty easily. Further reading cemented those ideas, to the point that now I'm ready to go.

Campaign OOB Canadian 11th Infantry Demi-Brigade

Voltigeurs de Quebec Regiment

Fusiliers de Mont-Royal Regiment

7th Canadian Armoured Regiment (Trois-Rivieres Dragoons) 

13th Field Regiment, RCA (St Hyacinthe)

Divisional Support

Argentuil Rangers Reconnaissance Regiment 

British 5th Assault Regiment, RE, 79th Armoured Division (elements of)

Campaign OOB Germans

II Battalion, 726th Infantry Regiment

21st Panzer Division (elements of)

12th SS Panzer Division (elements of)

So that's the starting point for this campaign. The Canadians have no reinforcements, so will not be able to make up any losses incurred on the landings and there after. This was true of the Canadian 7th Infantry Brigade, who had a follow up Battalion, but no follow up Brigade for support. In my campaign the Demi-Brigade designation is to reflect that lack of that third Battalion, but it also sounds more French-Canadian to me!

For the Germans, well reserves and reinforcements will be limited, as one might expect, until the 12th SS Pz Division can begin to arrive, but not until D-Day +1. So it is imperative for the 11th Demi-Brigade to push as far forward and fast as possible, but without exposing its flanks etc.

OOB - The Landings

Voltigeurs de Quebec Regiment

1 x CO - CV 9

4 x HQ - CV 8 (with attached FAO's)

1 x FAO (RN)

3 x Assault Infantry (5/30 + Veterans)

9 x Infantry (Veterans)

1 x Wasp

1 x Sherman Firefly

3 x Shermans

1 x Sherman Crab

1 x Churchill AVRE

1 x Churchill Crocodile

1 x Centaur

3 x Priest 105mm SPG (scheduled and on call)

1 x Naval Rockets (scheduled)

1 x HMS Fury (scheduled and on call)

(Note follow up elements such as 3" Mortar, HMGs and ATGs will arrive once the beach is secure and the Assault Regiment is clear of it and pushing inland)

7th Kompanie, II Battalion, 726th Infantry Regiment

1 x HQ - CV 8

1 x FAO - CV 7

2 x Infantry (Fortress)

1 x MG (Tobruk)

1 x MG (Gun Pit)

1 x 81mm Mortar (Gun Pit)

1 x Panzerturm (37mm)

1 x Bunker (Wiederstandnest 33a with Pak 40)

1 x 105mm Artillery (off table)

Barbed Wire

Mines

So there we have it. Hopefully this gives you a good overview of my ideas, the OOB etc. Next up is the game itself!

Thanks for reading and as always thanks for any comments as they are greatly appreciated:).

TTFN.

Festung Europa

With less than a week to go before the planned D-Day game with my fictional Canadian Brigade, I thought I'd post a few photos of progress I've made with regard to the German defences. 

Widerstandsnest 33a. The view of the seaborne side. I went with the 'rule of cool' and added some foliage and earth etc to the roof, which was probably there, before being blown off during the pre-invasion bombardment. I could have added some camo patterns, but like the plain weathered concrete look.

The landward view, which would cover both Juno and Gold beaches. I could easily use this as an artillery emplacement, facing the sea or in other defensive positions. 

The Pak 38 in position, by the entrance to the casement.

An MG 42 Tobruk. 

The concrete 'ring' was from a bike brake block assembly and makes for a perfect Tobruk type position.

A Panzerturm, using a Matidla II turret, one that was spare form an order years ago and I happened to have lying around.

In games terms this will be a Panzer IV short or French FT-17 turret with appropriate stats.

What's Next?

I have to decide whether to paint some more British infantry to bulk out the invasion force, or some German ATG teams. The latter are favourite at present, as they will be needed for the 2nd scenario and for wider games in general.

At least I have all the core mechanisms sorted, so I just need to finalise some Regimental names for the Canadians, as write up my notes into a cohsive whole, rather than being spread over several books and pieces of paper.

I hope you enjoyed this little update and as always, any comments greatly appreciated!

TTFN.

Whilst The Iron Is Hot

Post Partizan I've certainly been in a more wargaming frame of mind, as it is hard not to be inspired by all that you see at the show. Also you can have too much of a good thing, so the recent break in the weather has come as a welcome change, giving me a good excuse to get indoors and do something different. As mentioned in the last post, I did consider trying to get something organised for D-Day 6th June, possibly resurrecting my fictional Canadians in Normandy mini-campaign. 

Well that has indeed happened and for the past few days, I have been jotting ideas down, lists of things to do and check my resource material for details etc to incorporate in the campaign. So as a bit of an update, see below to get an idea of where I am and what I've been up to.

My main reference material, all of which are excellent books, but the John Keegan one is particularly useful to get a good overview of the Canadian landings, without going into much detail. All will provide a good framewok upon which to build the initial landings and follow up actions. More to follow in due course.

Of course if you are going to game the landings, then you need some beach defences for the Germans. I've had this book for years and as with Zaloga, an excellent one too. This along with some of the other books above, has given me an idea of what defences I need to make, which can be seen below.

The start of a German gun emplacement, with this side facing the sea. It is made from 4mm foamboard, which sort of gives that look of layered concrete you see on some of the bunkers etc. It is 80mm wide x 40mm deep x 20mm high.

The side facing inland and where the ATG gun will go (Pak 38), open on both sides so that it can shoot down either side of the beach. This is based upon the Vf600-SK 50mm gun emplacement that was on the far left of Juno beach. It was knocked out my naval gun fire, but could shoot down Gold beach as well.

Some other defences, from L-R: Goliath and control team; Tobruk MG; Panzerstellung Tobruk and Pak 38 to go in the gun emplacement. 

A LCT and LCA bought at Partizan last year. Whilst a nice think to have for the visuals of the game, I'm concentrating on painting stuff I need first and foremost. They need a bit of a clean up first to get rid of mould lines etc. They should look good when finished though.

And In Other News

Just a couple of things that are not related to the current focus of my gaming.

Doh! I bought this one church at Partizan this year and I think the other at Colours last year. What a muppet! Leon at Pendraken might be kind and let me swap for something else, or I can give it away or do some converting.

This is my current book I'm reading and what a cracker it is. Keegan is such a wonderful historian and story teller, it is not only a pleasure to read, but chock full of bits of info I had not heard before. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in the ACW.

What Next?

Well the focus will of course be on getting stuff painted and ready for the first game, alongside all the OOB, maps, objectives etc. I have most of it already, it just needs bringing together all in one place. At least the weather for the next week is in my favour as it is looking wet. Not often I would say this but I'm quite happy with that, as long as I can get some priming in!

Right, off to more research! As always thanks for reading and any comments greatly appreciated:).

TTFN.

A Bit Of An Update

Aside from the recent Partizan show report, I've not done anything vaguely game related for well over a month now, other than reading books, which is always going on in the background. A couple of reasons for this, namely our daughter and son-in-law came to stay, so the games room became an office and the fact that we've had stunning weather for about 6 weeks now, breaking records left, right and centre. With the latter I'm like a moth to a flame, so I've barely been indoors for the duration! 

Despite all of the above, the old grey cells have been whirring away, pondering all things gaming related, so I thought I'd do a bit of a catch up on some of the main points. So in no particular order:

Campaigns

These past few years I've really found so much pleasure in small, manageable sized campaigns, compared to one off games. That's not to say they don't have their place, such as going through the OHW scenarios, but it's just not the same. Despite having many books on campaigns, I've found the easiest for me a simple narrative driven one. I suppose I get a rough outline in my head, flesh out the objectives, come up with the starting scenario and work from there. Depending upon the period, this is easier to do than others, with WWII and BKCII now almost second nature. A SYW one might be another matter, but a nice challenge and fun researching it.

Too Much Stuff?

A bit of a heretical statement I know, but bear with me. Over a month ago I started planning an AVBCW Campaign and wanted to paint some pieces up for it as part of the narrative-cum-objectives. But I simply couldn't find the piece in question (a WWI mortar), despite searching high and low for it. So ann hour or so later I finally found in literally the last place I looked. But alongside it I found other items I forgot I had bought, as well as in the search realising just how much unpainted lead I had stored in bags and boxes. With my glacial painting pace and my painting arm slowly getting worse each year, it did make me stop and think what do I really enjoy playing, and as a result what should I put my focus on over the next few years in terms of painting? I've got an idea but I do need to have a good old sort out and in the hard, cold light of day, make some decisions about what to keep and what to part with. Challenging but cathartic at the same time.

Vlogs vs Blogs

Whilst I do watch and enjoy a few Vlogs (Little Wars TV, Mark's Games Room for example), by and large I do wonder why people watch them, when you could easily scan and read the content in a fraction of the time taken to watch the video on Youtube? Ditto for the content creator, based upon comments over the years about the time taken to do the script, record, edit and upload. Personally Blogs are just so much better 99% of the time.

Rules

A comment on a Blog a month or so ago, where the group had played a game using the 'Hail Caesar' rules, but in a different period from their norm. At the end they felt that in essence they were playing the same game, but just with different figures, army names etc. So this got me wondering how common this might be, and whether this applies to all rules and periods. Thinking about my BKCII games, if I was playing Poland 1939, France 1940 or Barbarossa 1941, then I do think that essentially the games would be incredibly similar, given the materiel used, German 'superiority' in C&C in general. Ditto Italy 1943 or Normandy 1944. But the difference for me is the narrative to the game, even though it might be yet another flank attack, seaborne landing etc. So would different rules for each period make any difference or not? I don't think so, but then I do tend to use the same core rules and mechanics for all my games.

Magazines & Books

I keep thinking it would be nice to buy a wargames magazine now and then, but if I'm brutally honest, I can't find anything that really interests me in them, whether it be WSS or WI. Not being a 28mm gamer is probably part of the reason and, as we all know, the content is largely aimed at this 'scale', as that's what keeps the magazines going. So I much prefer to buy a 2nd hand book in a period that interests and follow Blogs that align with my interests.

Random Stuff

I thought I'd take some photos of some stuff that I've painted, made and bought over the past couple of months:

The 'Maltese Falcon'. An old Revell snap together kit (or something like that) of a Fokker DR1, that I probably made and primed some 15 years or so ago! With my planned AVBCW campaign, I finally added a Peter Pig pilot, and chose a colour scheme to go with my Police Force. I used some very old GW transfers and was lazy in not painting gloss lacquer first on the fuselage, so that transfer backing shows up horribly, but you don't notice it during the game.

My sole purchases from Partizan, a water mill and church, both 6mm Battlesclae from Pendraken.

One of my other hobbies is woodworking, and despite having a lathe for 5 years now, I finally got around to having a play. I've wanted a dice tray for some time, so decided to quickly turn one to get my hand back in, as it's been 30 years since I last turned anything! Made from a piece of scaffold board, it serves its purpose and I want to make some more with nice wood.

After seeing this reviewed by Norm Smith, I just had to buy it and it does look very good.

As with the above, when Keith in NZ mentioned this on his Blog, I managed to track down a very cheap copy. Sadly it was in pretty poor condition, but my old modelling making skills resurrected it somewhat. A great read for sure.

With the WotR be rather en vogue, this was bought to try and improve my knowledge of the military side of the Wars, which this does a great job of doing. Highly recommended, even if some of the information is dated, specifically about Bosworth. 

Getting Back On The Wargaming Bike

Having been away from the painting and gaming table for so long, I'm honestly finding it hard to get back into the frame of mind. Of course the glorious weather hasn't helped, but now it has turned, I'm seeing how I can slowlly inch back into things.

A bit of bed time reading and inspiration.

I always love browsing through these old Airfix magazines, which takes me right back to when I still in single figures age wise! The Rapid Fire booklet has sparked that old WWII flame, so I'm hoping to add some more support bases for my BKCII British and German forces and then finally paint them up, as they've lain far too long just primed and waiting to go. A bit of focus is nice, especially with 6th June fast approaching. Time to dust off my ideas for a fictional Canadian landing? It would be nice...

Thanks for getting this far and reading my waffle, which just might have been of marginal interest!  As always, any comments greatly appreciated:).

TTFN.